CIHM 
Microfiche 
Series 
(IVIonographs) 


ICIMH 

Collection  de 
microfiches 
(monographies) 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microraproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes  /  Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best  original 
copy  available  for  filnfiing.  Features  of  this  copy  which 
may  be  bibliographically  unique,  which  may  alter  any  of 
the  images  in  the  reproduction,  or  which  may 
significantly  change  the  usual  method  of  filming  are 
checked  below. 


0 
D 

D 

D 
D 

0 
0 
D 

D 

D 

D 


D 


Coloured  covers  / 
Couverture  de  couleur 

Covers  damaged  / 
Couverture  endommagte 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Couverture  restaur^  et/ou  pellicula 

Cover  title  missing  /  Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps  /  Cartes  g^ographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)  / 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations  / 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material  / 
Relid  avec  d'autres  documents 

Only  edition  available  / 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion  along 
interior  margin  /  L.a  reliure  serr^  peut  causer  de 
I'ombre  ou  de  la  distorsion  le  long  de  la  marge 
int^rieure. 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restorations  may  appear 
within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these  have  been 
omitted  from  filming  /  Use  peut  que  certaines  pages 
blanches  ajoutdes  lors  d'une  restauration 
apparaissent  dans  le  texte,  mais,  lorsque  cela  6\a\\ 
possible,  ces  pages  n'ont  pas  6t6  film^s. 

Additional  comments  / 
Comnrfentaires  suppl^mentaires: 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemptaire  qu'il  lui  a 
6X6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details  de  cet  exem- 
plaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du  point  de  vue  bibli- 
ographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier  une  image  reproduite, 
ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une  modification  dans  la  mdtho- 
de  non'iiale  de  filmage  sont  indiqu^s  ci-dessou^ 

I     I   Coloured  pages  /  Pages  de  couleur 

I I   Pages  damaged  /  Pages  endommag6es 


D 


Pages  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Pages  restaurdes  et/ou  pelliculdes 


0  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed  / 
Pages  ddcolortes,  tachet^es  ou  piques 

I      I   Pages  detached  /  Pages  d6tach6es 

|>/]   Showthrough / Transparence 

I      I   Quality  of  print  varies  / 


D 
0 


O 


Quality  in^gaie  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material  / 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppl^mentaire 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata  slips, 
tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  totalement  ou 
partiellement  obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une 
pelure,  etc.,  ont  6t6  film^s  k  nouveau  de  fa^on  k 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 

Opposing  pages  with  varying  colouration  or 
discolourations  are  filmed  twice  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  s'opposant  ayant  des 
colorations  variables  ou  des  decolorations  sont 
filmtes  deux  fois  afin  d'obtenir  la  meilleure  image 
possible. 


This  ftam  la  filinad  at  the  reduction  ratio  ciMckad  baiow  / 

Ca  doeumant  aat  film*  au  taux  da  rMuetion  indiqu*  cl-daaaoua. 


lOx 


14x 


18x 


22x 


26x 


30x 


12x 


16x 


20x 


24x 


28x 


32x 


Th«  copy  filmed  her*  has  bMn  r«predue«d  thanks 
to  th«  gancroiity  of: 

Library  of  tlia  National 
Archival  of  Canada 


L'oMomplairo  film*  fut  roproduit  grica  A  la 
04n4rosit*  da: 

La  bibiiothiqut  dtt  Archivti 
nationaiat  du  Canada 


Tha  imagas  appaaring  hara  ara  ttia  bast  quality 
poasibia  conaidaring  tfia  condition  and  tagibility 
of  tfia  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  ..  ntraet  apacificationa. 


Original  copias  in  printod  papar  cevara  ara  filmad 
beginning  with  tha  front  cevar  and  anding  on 
tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad  or  illuatratad  impraa- 
aion.  or  tha  back  eovar  whan  appropriate.  All 
othar  original  copiaa  ara  filmad  boglnning  on  ttta 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  Ulustratad  impraa* 
aJon.  and  anding  on  tfta  laat  paga  with  a  printad 
or  illuatratad  impraasion. 


Tha  laat  racordad  frama  on  aach  microfiche 
ahall  eontein  the  symbol  —^  (meening  "CON- 
TINUED"!, or  the  symbol  y  (meening  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Mops,  plates,  charu.  etc..  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  retios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  expoaura  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hend  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  es 
required.  The  following  diegrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  imagas  suivantes  ont  tt*  reproduitas  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin.  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nettet*  da  I'exempleire  film*,  at  tn 
cenformit*  avee  les  conditions  du  eontrat  da 
fiimaga. 

Lea  axemplelrea  origlnaux  dont  le  couvartura  an 
papier  eat  imprim«e  sent  film«s  en  commancant 
par  le  premier  plot  et  en  terminent  soit  par  la 
darnlAre  pege  qui  comporte  una  amprainta 
d'impraaaion  ou  d 'illustration,  soit  par  la  second 
plat,  aaion  le  eea.  Tous  les  outres  exempiairas 
originaux  aont  fiimte  an  commandant  par  la 
prami*re  pege  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impreasion  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminent  par 
la  dernitre  pege  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivonts  apparaltra  sur  la 
darnlAre  imege  de  cheque  microfiche,  salon  la 
cas:  la  symboia  ^^'  signifia  "A  SUIVRE".  la 
symboia  V  signifia  "FIN". 

Las  csrtes,  plenches.  tobleeux,  etc.,  peuvent  *tre 
filmte  A  des  toux  de  reduction  diff«rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grend  pour  ttra 
reproduit  en  un  aeul  clich*.  il  est  film*  A  partir 
de  i'engle  supArieur  geuche.  de  gauche  A  droite. 
et  de  heut  en  bes.  en  prenent  le  nombre 
d'imeges  nAcessaira.  Les  diegrammas  suivants 
illustrant  le  mAthode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

MOOCOrv   RBOIUTION  TBT  CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


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^S  (716)   288  -  5989  -  Fa, 


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VTRITAS 


THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 


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ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  RDITION 

VOLUME  S.S 

THE  CHRONICLES 

OF  AMERICA  SERIES 

ALLKN  JOHNSON 

EDITOR 

GKRHARU    R.   LUMKR 

CHARLES  W.  JEFPBRYS 

ASSISTANT  EDITORS 


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THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 
IN  EDUCATION 

A  CHRONICLE  OF 

GREAT  TEACHERS 

BY  EDWIN  E.  SLOSSON 


blic 


LVXET 


NEW  HAVEN:  YALE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

TORONTO:  GLASGOW,  BROOK  &  CO. 

LONDON:  HUMPHREY  MI^FORD 

OXFORD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

1921 


_i 


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V 
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Copyright,  1921,  by  Yale  University  Press 


I  ( 


CONTENTS 


SCHOOL     DAYS 
ENGLAND 


IN      EARLY     NEW 


Page      1 
91 

M 
4« 


n.    SCHOOLS  IN  NEW  NETHERLAND 

III.  SCHOOLS     OF     THE     MIDDLE     AND 

SOUTHERN  COLONIES 

IV.  THE  COLONIAL  COLLEGE 

V.     FRANKLIN    AND    PRACTICAL    EDU- 
CATION '•       85 

VI.    JEFFERSON  AND  STATE  EDUCATION    "       78 

VIL    WASHINGTON  AND  NATIONAL  EDU- 
CATION "       94 

VIII.    SCHOOLS  OF  THE  YOUNG  REPUBLIC    "      '"l 

IX.     HORACE  MANN  AND  THE  AMERICAN 

SCHOOL  •'      i«4 

X.     DE  WITT  CLINTON  AND  THE  FREE 

SCHOOL  "      ui 

XI.    THE   WESTWARD   MOVEMENT  "      155 

XII.    THE    RISE    OF  THE  STATE  UNIVER- 
SITY "      188 

Xm.    CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA    "     181 

XIV.    THE     RISE     OF     TECHNICAL     EDU- 
CATION "     807 


viii 


CONTENTS 


XV.    THE  MORRILL  ACT  AND  WHAT  CAME 

°*'  '^  Pne  MI 

XVI.     WOMEN    KNOCKING    AT    THE    COL. 
LEGE  DOOR 

XVII.    THE   NEW  EDUCATION 
XVin.    THE  UNIVERSITY  OP  TODAY 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 
INDEX 


233 

273 
287 
201 


•1' 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


fi 


3t 
I 


HORACE  MANN 

Engraving  by  J.  C.  Buttre,  from  a  photo- 
graph, in  Mtmoiri  of  Teaekert,  edited  by  H. 
Barnard,  1M9.  In  the  N«w  York  Public 
Library. 


Frontup%te$ 


"A  WESTERLY  MEW  OF  THE  COLLEGES 
IN  CAMBRIDGE,   NEW  ENGLAND" 

EngraTing  by  Paul  Revere,  after  a  drawing 
by  Joihua  Chadwick.  In  the  collection  of 
the  Essex  Institute,  Salem,  Maaiachuietts.    Facing  fag*    16 

ELIHU  YALE 

Painting  by  Zeeman,  1717.  In  Alumni 
Hall,  Yale  University.  Presented  in  1789 
by  Dudley  Long  North,  M.P.,  Great- 
grandson  and  Last  Surviving  Descendant  of 
Yale.  Reproduced  by  courtesy  of  Andrew 
Keogh,  Esq.,  Librarian  at  Yale  University.       "        "         \8 

WILLIAM  AND   MARY   COLLEGE,  WIL- 
LIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA 

Photograph  by  H.   P.   Cook,   Richmond. 
Virginia. 
THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  CHAR- 
LOTTESVILLE 

Photograph  by  H.  P.  Cook,  Richmond. 
\  irginia. 

"NASSAU  HALL  AND  THE  PRESIDENT'S 

HOUSE,"  PRINCETON,  NEW  JERSEY 

Engraving  by  H.  Dawkins,  after  a  drawing 

t^-  W.  Tennant,  published  in  An  Account  <jf 

the  College  of  New  Jertey.  1764.  "        "       128 

ix 


80 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


JAMES  BOWDOIN 

Painting  by  John  Singleton  Copley.  In  the 
Bowdoin  College  Art  Collection.  Bruns- 
wick.  Maine.  By  courteiy  of  Mr.  Gerald 
G.  Wilder,  Librarian. 

•VIEW  OF  COLUMBIA  COLLEGE  IN  THE 
CITY  OF  NEW  YORK" 

Engraving  by  Tiebout,  after  a  drawing  by 
Anderson,  published  in  The  Sew  York 
Magazine,  May.  1790.  Copy  in  the  New 
York  Public  Library. 

JAMES  SMITHSON 

Engraving  in  the  National  Muaeum. 
Washington. 

JUSTIN  S.   MORRILL 

Painting  by  G.  P.  A.  Healy.  In  the  Cor- 
coran Gallery  of  Art,  Washington. 

EZRA  CORNELL 

Photograph  taken  about  1869.    Published 
in  Goldwin  Smith's  Reminixeneet. 
MATTHEW  VASSAR 

Drawing  from  a  photograph. 

A  /lEW  OP  THE  BUILDINGS  OF  YALE 
COLLEGE  AT  NEW  HAVEN 
Engraving  by  A.  B.  Doolittle.  from  a  draw- 
ing by  himself,  published  in  New  Haven  in 
1807.  In  the  collection  of  the  Reverend 
Anson  Phelps  Stokes.  New  Haven. 


Faeini  pagt  m 


m 


m 


t66 


HI 


i  , 


179 


THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN 
EDUCATION 


CHAPTER  I 


SCHOOL  DATS   IN   EARLY    NEW   ENGLAND 


m 


ese 


It  being  one  chii.ie  project  of  that  ould  deluder  Sathan  to  ketpt 
men  from  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  ...  It  ii  therefore 
ordered  that  every  township  in  this  jurisdiction,  after  the  Lord 
hath  increased  them  to  the  number  of  50  householders,  shall  ap- 
point one  within  their  towns  to  teach  all  such  children  as  shall 
reso^'t  to  him  to  write  and  reade.  —  Mat$aehu*etti  School  Law,  1047. 

The  origin  of  the  American  public  school  must  be 
sought  in  New  England,  not  because  the  schools  of 
Massachusetts  were  the  first  in  time  —  for  Vir- 
ginia, if  not  New  Netherland,  may  dispute  that 
primacy  —  but  because  New  England  has  been 
the  teacher  of  the  nation's  teachers.  The  legisla- 
tors who  f rar  d  the  early  school  laws  for  the  newer 
States  of  the  South  and  the  West  found  models 

in  the  codes  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut; 

1 


«       AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

and  to  a  remarkable  extent  the  fint  text-book. 
u»od  in  every  State  and  Territory  of  the  Union 
came  from  New  England  pubUahem.    Harvard  and 
Yale  and  even  the  smaUest  colleges  of  New  Eng- 
land have  attracted  student,  not  only  from  all 
parts  of  America  but  from  all  quarter,  of  the  globe. 
Scholars,  teachers,  divines,  and  college  graduates 
by  the  thousand  have  been  numbered  among  the 
sons  oi  New  England  who  joined  the  great  tide  of 
migration  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard  to  the  fron- 
tier. Whether  the  western  limit  of  American  settle- 
uient  was  in  Pennsylvania.  Ohio.  Illinois.  Kansas, 
or  Colorado,  the  schoolmaster  and  the  schoolma'am 
from  "  down  East "  were  there  a.  true  volunteers  on 
the  firing-line  of  civilization  to  see  that  the  younger 
generation  was  not  permitted  to  grow  up  without 
the  knowledge  considered  essential  in  that  day. 

Though  the  educational  leadership  of  America  is 
now  held  by  no  one  section,  the  pioneer  work  of  the 
men  and  women  of  New  England  can  never  lose  its 
historical  importance.  In  the  story  of  the  New 
England  school  may  be  read  in  brief  the  story  of 
public  education  in  America.  A  description  of  dis- 
trict  school,  academy,  or  college  in  New  England 
may  stand  with  very  little  change  for  thousands  of 
similar  institutions  throughout  the  country. 


EARLY  NEW  ENGLAND  8 

Of  the  early  wttlers  in  America  the  colonists  of 
Plymouth  were  second  to  none  in  tlieir  ceul  for  the 
education  of  their  children,  but  their  poverty  and 
the  arduous  task  of  turning  u  wilderness  into  a 
commonwealth  mevitably  postponed  for  several 
years  the  establishment  of  schools.  Children  were 
at  first  commonly  taught  at  home  until  the  colo- 
nists found  themselves  in  a  position  to  set  up  both 
elementary  and  grammar  schools.  There  wus  no 
adequate  public  provision  for  instruction  until 
1670,  when  the  General  Court  of  the  colony  en- 
acted a  law  "granting  all  such  profits  as  may  or 
shall  accrue  annually  to  the  colony  from  fishing 
T\  ith  nets  or  seines  at  Cape  Cod  for  mackerel,  bass, 
or  he:  ag,  to  be  improved  for  and  towards  a  free 
achool  in  some  town  in  this  jurisdiction,  for  the 
training  up  of  youth  in  literature  for  the  good 
and  benefit  of  posterity."  The  town  of  Plymouth 
promptly  :cepted  this  opportunity  and  built  a 
schoolhouse  which  served  also  as  a  home  for  the 
teacher.  Within  a  few  years  of  the  establishment 
of  a  system  of  public  instruction  in  Plymouth 
the  colony  was  merged  with  Massachusetts  and 
became  subject  to  the  laws  of  the  larger  colviy. 

Massachusetts  Bay,  although  a  later  settlement 
than  Plymouth,  was  the  first  New  England  colony  to 


L 


4       AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

make  its  schools  a  public  charge.    Compared  with 
the  scanty  numbers  and  resources  of  the  men  of  Ply- 
mouth, the  colony  of  Massachusetts  seemed  from 
the  beginning  strong  and  prosperous.    Among  its 
first  settlers  were  menof  some  wealth  and  much  learn- 
ing. Such  men  were  quick  to  see  the  need  of  teachers 
for  their  children  and  were  equally  prompt  to  supply 
it.    In  1635  a  town  meeting  in  Boston  voted  to  hire 
a  schoolmaster  and  thus  founded  the  Boston  Latin 
School,  which  has  brought  an  honorable  record  down 
to  our  own  day.    This  institution  was  supported 
largely  by  the  generosity  of  the  wealthier  citizens, 
but  a  few  years  later  a  school  was  established  at 
Dorchester  and  maintained  entirely  by  a  public 
tax.    Other  Latin  schools  were  soon  built  in  the 
more  progressive  townships,  and  in  1642  an  ordi- 
nance of  the  colony  made  education  compulsory. 
The  law  of  1642  called  to  public  attention  the 
failure  of  many  parents  and  guardians  to  train  the 
children  in  their  charge  in  learning  and  labor.    It 
gave  the  town  authorities  the  power  to  punish  by 
fines  those  who  refused  to  give  an  account  of  the 
instruction  received  by  their  children,  "especially 
of  their  ability  to  read  and  understand  the  prin- 
ciples of  religion  and  the  capital  laws  of  this  coun- 
try."  In  case  a  child's  education  were  persistently 


? 


EARLY  NEW  ENGLAND  6 

neglected,  the  officials  of  the  town  had  the  right  to 
apprentice  him  in  some  fit  occupation  where  his 
improvement  would  be  better  looked  after.  If  this 
ambitious  ordinance  could  have  been  enforced  to 
the  letter,  Massachusetts  would  never  have  had  a 
boy  or  girl  within  her  borders  who  could  not  read 
and  write,  pursue  a  useful  trade,  and  pass  an 
examination  in  civics.  But  it  was  one  thing  to 
require  instruction  and  another  to  provide  it. 
Not  every  parent  could  furnish  the  means  for  pri- 
vate teaching,  and  not  all  the  towns  were  equally 
forward  in  establishing  free  schools. 

To  remedy  the  lack  of  adequate  facilities  for 
learning,  the  colony  in  1647  made  it  obligatory  on 
every  township  of  fifty  householders  to  employ 
some  one  competent  to  teach  reading  and  writing. 
Every  township  of  a  hundred  families  was  com- 
pelled in  addition  to  establish  a  grammar  school 
capable  of  preparing  boys  for  college.  The  schools 
thus  established  were  not  necessarily  free,  since 
fees  were  sometimes  charged,  nor  were  children 
compelled  to  attend  if  their  parents  preferred  to 
give  tl  m  private  instruction.  But  three  main 
principles  were  established  by  this  early  law  which 
have  characterized  American  education  ever  since: 
that  the  duty  of  public  instruction  is  one  which  no 


6       AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

community,  however  small  and  poor,  may  be  per- 
mitted to  evade;  that  the  government  of  the  public 
schools  in  matters  of  detail  is  lodged  not  in  some  dis- 
tant central  authority  but  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood where  the  schools  are  situated ;  and  that  the 
elementary  schools  are  distinct  from  the  secondary 
schools  which  prepare  for  college  or  university. 

Such  promising  beginnings,  however,  did  not 
lead  to  rapid  and  continuous  progress.  Some 
towns  found  it  cheaper  to  pay  the  fines  imposed 
upon  them  for  neglect  ot  the  law  than  to  hire  a 
schoolmaster  and  openly  disregarded  the  ordinance 
of  1647.  Many  of  the  later  immigrants  to  Massa- 
chusetts had  less  of  that  zeal  for  learning  which 
distinguished  the  first  settlers;  and,  being  busy 
practical  men  engaged  in  trade  or  agriculture,  they 
did  not  see  the  need  of  Latin  for  their  children. 
Apart  from  these  discouragements  within,  Indian 
raids  on  the  back\>  oods  settlements  proved  to  be  an- 
other obstacle  to  learning,  the  strength  of  which  can 
readily  be  appreciated  from  the  following  pathetic 
petition  from  Dover,  New  Hampshire': 

That  whereas  the  said  town  is  one  of  the  most  exposed 
towns  in  this  Province  to  the  insults  of  the  Indian 
enemy,  and  also  whereas  by  an  act  of  the  General  As- 

•  Walter  H.  Small.  Early  New  England  Schools  (1914).  p.  61. 


EARLY  NEW  ENGLAND  7 

sembly  of  this  Province  the  said  town  of  Dover 
(amongst  jthers)  is  obliged  by  said  act  to  keep  and 
maintain  a  grammar  school,  and  whereas  the  circum- 
stances and  situation  or  settlements  of  the  inhabitan'  s 
of  said  town  lying  and  being  in  such  a  manner  as  ii  is, 
the  houses  being  so  scattered  over  the  whole  township 
that  in  no  one  place  six  houses  are  within  call,  by  which 
inconveniency  the  inhabitants  of  said  town  can  have 
no  benefit  of  such  grammar  school,  for  at  the  times  fit 
for  children  to  go  and  come  from  school,  is  generally 
the  chief  time  of  the  Indians  doing  mischief,  so  that 
the  inhabitants  are  afraid  to  send  their  children  t.» 
school,  and  the  children  dare  not  venture;  so  that  the 
salary  to  said  schoolmaster  is  wholly  lost  to  said  town. 


m 


m 


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m 


\  ..nin  a  few  years  of  the  first  settlements,  all 
the  New  England  colonies  except  Rhode  Island 
made  public  provision  for  education.  Newport 
and  Providence  gave  generous  donations  of  land 
for  the  establishment  of  town  schools,  but  in  Rhode 
Island  before  1800  there  was  no  general  law  author- 
izing towns  to  maintain  public  schools.  The  back- 
wardness of  the  little  colony  in  matters  of  education 
was  due  largely  to  the  fact  that,  since  there  was  no 
union  between  Church  and  State,  the  Government 
was  not  concerned,  as  it  was  in  Massachusetts,  to 
sustain  an  educated  ministry.  Education  was  re- 
garded in  Rhode  Island,  just  as  it  was  in  England 
and  in  most  of  the  English  colonies  outside  the 


8       AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

region  of  Puritan  influence,  as  a  need  to  be  met  by 
private  initiative.  New  Hampshire  followed  the 
school  system  of  Massachusetts,  and  Maine,  as  a 
part  of  Massachusetts  throughout  the  colonial 
period,  shared  the  same  laws.  In  her  Constitution 
of  1777  Vermont  enjoined  upon  the  Legislature  the 
duty  of  establishing  a  school  or  schools  in  each 
town  "  for  the  convenient  instruction  of  the  youth." 
Connecticut  has  an  educational  record  rival- 
ing that  of  Massachusetts.  Schools  were  well 
established  in  Hartford  before  the  middle  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  and  soon  schools  were 
made  compulsory  throughout  the  entire  colony. 
The  selectmen  of  each  town  were  required  to  see 
that  none  "shall  suffer  so  much  barbarism  in 
any  of  their  families,  as  no'  to  endeavor  to  teach 
by  themselves  or  other  .leir  children  and  appren- 
tices so  much  learning  as  may  enable  them  per- 
fectly to  read  the  English  tongue,  and  knowledge 
of  the  capital  laws."  Towns  of  fifty  household- 
ers were  obliged  to  maintain  teachers  of  reading 
and  writing,  and  towns  of  a  hundred  household- 
ers were  required  to  establish  a  grammar  school. 
New  Haven  colony,  before  it  was  united  with  the 
towns  on  the  Connecticut,  enacted  similar  laws. 
In  1672  six  hundred  acres  of  land  were  assigned  to 


B 


EARLY  NEW  ENGLAND  9 

each  county  in  Connecticut  to  endow  a  grammar 
school  in  the  "county  town." 

The  common  schools  which  taught  pupils  to 
read  and  write  English  early  supplanted  the  "dame 
schools"  and  other  private  schools  for  primary 
instruction,  and  they  were,  on  the  whole,  well  kept 
up  in  all  the  English  colonies  where  they  had  been 
established  by  public  authority.     But  the  Latin 
grammar  schools  were  essentially  exotic.     In  all 
features  except  their  public  support  they  were  in- 
tended to  resemble  the  secondary  schools  of  Eng- 
land and  as  a  result  were  strikingly  ill  adapted  to 
frotu.er  conditions.    The  general  tendency  of  the 
rural  townships  to  neglect  the  school  laws  affected 
the  grammar  schools  much  more  adversely  than 
the  elementary  schools.    In  many  places  only  three 
or  four  youths  cared  to  study  Latin  or  prepare  for 
college,  and  the  taxpayers  were  consequently  in- 
dignant at  having  to  support  a  schoolmaster  of  so 
little  value  to  the  community.    Although  the  gram- 
mar schools  were  not  supposed  to  admit  boys 
who  could  not  already  read  and  write  English, 
public  opinion  often  compelled  the  teacher  tc  take 
pupils  at  a  very  early  age  and  coach  them  for 
grammar  school  work  by  giving  them  the  necessary 
elementary  instruction. 


;   'I 


10     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

The  grammar  schools  prospered  most  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, especially  in  the  towns  within  a  con- 
venient distance  of  Harvard  College.  But  even  in 
Massachusetts  this  type  of  school  was  ultimately 
replaced  by  the  private  academy  or  preparatory 
school.  Today  ia  the  system  of  public  education 
the  public  high  school  serves  as  the  connecting 
link  between  the  elementary  school  and  the  uni- 
versity and  thus  occupies  a  place  similar  to  that  of 
the  old  Latin  grammar  school;  but  the  old  rigid 
classical  course  of  study  and  the  old  paternal  over- 
sight of  the  pupils  is  now  found  only  in  certain 
private  boarding  schools. 

The  Latin  schools  in  their  day  gave  very  thor- 
ough instruction  in  the  limited  field  of  classical 
learning.  Boys  were  drilled  for  several  hours  a 
day  in  the  complexities  of  Latin  grammar  and  were 
encouraged,  and  frequently  compelled,  to  speak 
Latin  instead  of  English  in  the  classroom.  Some- 
times the  master  was  a  scholar  of  distinguished 
attainments,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  or 
even  of  one  of  the  English  universities.  Nothing 
is  more  surprising  in  the  records  of  colonial  times 
than  the  amount  of  conscientious,  laborious,  pro- 
fessional service  which  a  New  England  town  could 
thus  receive  in  exchange  for  a  few  pounds  a  year 


EARLY  NEW  ENGLAND  11 

and  the  right  to  pasture  a  cow  and  live  in  a  dilapi- 
dated schoolhouse.  Of  course  the  Puritan  school- 
master found  a  certain  compensation  for  his  meager 
salary  in  the  social  prestige  accorded  to  his  r^ro- 
fession  and  frequently  enhanced  in  New  England 
by  its  association  with  religion.  Many  teachers 
were  also  ministers,  and  all,  whether  clergy  or  lay- 
men, were  required  to  be  "sound  in  the  faith"  and 
"of  sober  and  good  conversation." 

The  fame  of  the  more  successful  teachers  of 
colonial  times  has  come  down  to  the  present  day. 
The  Boston  Latin  School  was  fortunate  enough  to 
have  as  its  head  for  thirty-eight  years  the  famous 
Ezekiel  Cheever,  the  friend  and  instructor  of  Cot- 
ton Mather,  who  said  of  him  after  his  death  at  the 
age  of  ninety-four:  "  He  had  been  a  skilful,  painful, 
faithful  schoolmaster  for  seventy  years,  and  had 
the  singular  favor  of  heaven,  that  though  he  had 
usefully  spent  his  life  among  children,  yet  he  was 
not  twice  become  a  child,  but  held  his  abilities,  in 
an  unusual  degree,  to  the  very  last."  As  principal 
of  the  Boston  Latin  School  he  received  "sixtie 
pounds  p.  an.  for  his  service  in  the  schoole  out  of 
the  towne  rates,  and  rents  that  belong  to  the 
schoole  and  the  possession  and  use  of  ye  schoole 
house."    He  was  the  author  of  a  text-book  of 


I 


«i 


il^-lVI 


12     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

elementary  Latin  which  came  into  general  use  in 
the  colonies  and  was  the  first  important  school  book 
published  in  America.  Elijah  Corlett  made  a  re- 
markable record  as  teacher  at  Cambridge.  Here 
he  taught  both  Indians  and  colonists,  but  his  in- 
come from  foes  was  so  small  that  on  several  occa- 
sions the  town  authorities  were  compelled  to  come 
to  his  relief.  Both  these  veteran  teachers  were 
celebrated  by  Cotton  Mather  in  a  couplet  which 
shows  that  their  work  was  at  least  appreciated 
even  if  it  was  almost  unpaid: 

'Tis  Corlett's  pains,  &  Cheever's,  we  must  own. 
That  thou,  New  England,  art  not  Scythia  grown. 

The  school  in  Roxbury  which,  according  to  this 
same  authority,  eventually  produced  more  scholars 
"  than  any  town  of  its  bigness,  or,  if  I  mistake  not, 
of  twice  its  bigness,  in  all  New  England,"  was  es- 
tablished by  the  efforts  of  the  Reverend  John  Eliot, 
the  Apostle  to  the  Indians. 

The  teachers  of  the  elementary  schools  received 
in  general  even  less  for  their  labors  than  the  school- 
masters of  the  grammar  schools.  Often  they  were 
paid  in  commodities  other  than  the  scarce  coined 
money,  and  the  form  of  payment  varied  with  the 
products  of  the  town.     In  the  country  districts 


41'   1 


EARLY  NEW  ENGLAND 


IS 


grain  was  the  staple  compensation;  Maine  teachers 
were  often  paid  in  lumber;  Taunton  at  one  time 
paid  in  pig  iron;  and  the  town  of  Hingham  in  pails. 
In  some  of  the  earliest  contracts  wampum,  the 
Indian  she'l  mouey,  is  mentioned.  Yet  these 
teachers  who  received  their  salaries  in  products 
having  a  market  were  more  fortunate  than  a  later 
generation  fdrced  to  accept  a  depreciated  paper 
currency  at  its  face  value.  The  nominal  salary  of 
the  colonial  teacher  was  increased  by  fees  from 
parents,  small  grants  of  land  for  pasturing  and 
gardening,  exemption  from  taxation,  and  the  right 
to  board  around  among  the  families  of  the  town. 
Lest  the  more  penurious  farmers  begrudge  the 
visiting  teacher  a  good  meal,  the  town  sometimes 
paid  a  small  sum  to  those  who  would  agree  to 
board  him  for  a  few  weeks. 

The  curriculum  of  the  common  schools  may  be 
summed  up  in  the  four  R's:  Reading,  'Kiting, 
'Rithmetic,  and  Religion.  Many  of  the  earliest 
school  contracts  do  not  mention  irithmetic  at  all, 
but  the  practical  necessities  of  the  settlers  soon 
forced  this  subject  into  the  course  of  study.  Writ- 
ing involved  learning  to  cut  and  manipulate  the 
quill  pen.  Pupils  provided  the  quills  and  brought 
their  ink  from  home,  as  its  manufacture  was  one 


y 


14     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

of  the  many  arts  of  the  colonial  household.  Read- 
ing and  religion  were  combined  in  the  school  text- 
book, and  a  knowledge  of  the  catechism  was  a 
universal  requirement. 

The  first  and  simplest  of  the  schfiol-books  was 
the  horn-book,  an  English  invention  consisting  of 
a  small  board  with  a  handle  attached.  To  the 
board  was  fastened  a  sheet  of  paper  covered  with 
transparent  horn  to  prevent  the  paper  from  be- 
coming soiled  or  torn.  Through  this  necessary 
protection  the  pupil  could  read  the  letters  of  the 
alphabet,  certain  combinations  of  letters,  such  as 
"ab  eb  ib,"  called  the  **syllabarium,"  the  Lord's 
prayer,  and  at  the  bottom  the  Roman  numerals. 
For  more  advanced  children  the  chief  text-book 
down  to  the  end  of  the  colonial  period  was  the 
New  England  Primer,  originally  adapted  from 
English  models  but  changing  considerably  in  the 
nature  of  its  contents  as  it  passed  from  edition 
to  edition. 

The  New  England  Primer  began,  like  the  horn- 
book, with  the  alphabet  and  syllabarium.  Then 
followed  words  for  spelling,  short  sentences  for 
reading,  and  a  series  of  rimed  couplets  illustrated 
with  very  crude  woodcuts  for  each  letter  of  the  al- 
phabet, beginning  with  the  theological  assertion, 


EARLY  NEW  ENGLAND 

In  Adam'tt  fall 
We  finned  all. 


15 


t 


ii 


and  closing  with  the  scriptural  statement, 

Zuccheus  he 

Did  Climb  the  Tree 

Our  I^)rd  to  fee. 

The  religious  flavor  introduced  thus  early  into 
colonial  education  was  further  strengthened  by  the 
inclusion  of  several  prayers  and  hymns,  the  Shorter 
Catechism,  and  another  catechism  bearing  l!ie  title 
Spiritual  Milk  for  American  Babes  drawn  from  the 
breasts  of  both  Testaments  for  their  souVs  nourish- 
vient.  There  was  also  a  woodcut  of  John  Rogers 
burning  at  the  stake,  with  his  wife  and  "nine  small 
children  and  one  at  the  breast"  viewing  the  sad 
spectacle,  to  illustrate  a  poem  written  by  that 
murtyr  to  his  children.  The  I  st  feature  of  the 
Primer  was  an  allegory  of  Youth  yielding  to  the 
temptations  of  the  Devil.  This  text-book  was  in 
use  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  it  is  recorded 
that  one  firm  of  printers  sold  37,000  copies  within 
seven  years.  After  the  Revolution  the  New  Eng- 
land Primer  was  gradually  driven  from  the  market 
by  Webster's  more  modern  schoolbooks. 
The  schoolhouse  was  almost  always  built  of  wood 


10     AMERICAN  i  PIRIT  IN  EDLCATION 

and  wttM  likely  to  lye  in  "  jinoun  condition.  Some- 
timeii  it  wait  only  ^  cabin  with  one  room,  in 
which  the  children  (Verc  seuted  on  long,  unpainted 
benches,  with  nothing  before  them  but  bare  walls 
and  the  teacher's  desk.  Usually  the  room  was  kept 
sufficiently  h«.ated  only  at  the  expense  of  ventila- 
tion. A  schoolmaster  writing  in  16H1  thus  de- 
scribes his  schoolhouse:  "The  confused  and  shat- 
tered and  nastie  posture  that  it  is  in,  the  glass 
broke,  and  thereupon  very  raw  and  cold;  the  floor 
very  much  broken  and  torn  up  to  kindle  fires,  the 
hearth  spoiled,  the  seats  some  burned  and  others 
out  of  kilter,  that  one  had  well  nigh  as  good  keep 
school  in  a  hog  stie  as  in  it."'  The  state  of  the 
schoolhouse,  however,  varied  according  to  the  lib- 
erality of  the  town.  In  some  places  the  schools 
were  kept  in  excellent  repair,  though  in  none  of 
them  was  there  any  suggoiition  of  the  modem  idea 
of  making  the  schoolroom  beautiful. 

The  schools  were  ungraded,  although  the  lit- 
tle children  just  learning  their  letters  usually  sat 
apart  from  the  rest.  The  pupils  studied  at  their 
seats  but,  when  called  upon  to  recite,  came  to  the 
front  of  the  room,  gave  the  teacher  the  book,  and 

'  Clifton  Johnson,  Old-Time  Schools  and  Sehool-Books  (1904), 
p.  8. 


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EARLY  NEW  ENGLAND  17 

rehearsed  their  lesson  as  well  as  possible  from  mem- 
ory.    If  the  recitation  fell  vi'ry  much  below  the 
master's  expectations,  the  usual  result  was  a  sound 
flogging.    The  colonial  school  inherited  the  English 
tradil  ion  of  harsh  discipline  and  even  exceeded  its 
inheritance.     Hot-tempered  instructors  were  not 
content  with  the  traditional  use  of  the  ruler,  birch, 
and  strap,  but  exercised  their  ingenuity  in  invent- 
mg  new  punishments.    A  disobedient  or  trouble- 
some boy  might  be  compelled  to  stand  in  the  comer 
with  a  dunce's  cap  decorating  his  head,  stay  by  the 
hot  stove  during  recess,  hold  out  a  heavy  book  at 
arm's  length  until  he  was  exhausted,  have  his  nose 
pinched  with  a  sort  of  wooden  clothespin,  or  sit  on 
the  girls'  side  of  the  room  —  a  punishment  the 
severity  of  which  depended  upon  the  point  of  view. 
As  a  rule  the  more  conscientious  the  teacher,  the 
worse  time  his  pupil  had.    There  ^?,s  no  attempt  to 
make  study  attractive,  and  me  ^ents  followed 

the  road  to  learning  only  under  ,vcer  compulsion. 
Girls  were  almost  never  admitted  to  grammar 
school,  although  }■  was  not  at  all  uncommon  for 
a  teacher  to  give  them  private  instruction  after 
school  hours.  In  the  small  common  schools  of  ru- 
ral New  England  necessity  often  triumphed  over 
prejudice,  and  boys  and  girls  ha     .o  be  taught  in 


J   -„ 


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'8     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATIOK 
the  same  room  and  at  the  same  tinu.     Tl,  ,      u 

gir  s  and  boys  on  opposite  sides  of  the  room     I. 

early  part  o,  thT^i;"  efn X^nr"^  ""'""  '"' 
write  th^.V  «„      •     ^^^^"*^  century  were  able  to 

b~r.      "  '"""""''■  *"«  -'  '-'■'-«  'o  ""est 

instruction  of'lT'Xr.rr™-'''-"'^ 
vate  schools  taught  by  w  ^  n't:^"-;:'::^  ""- 
the  little  children  learned  to  read  frlZ  r" 

or^hrirtrtn:^"-^^^^^^^^ 

^;^.,nthedame-sch!:rn::re:r:tJ:« 

Zn'  s"""'  "": --"^  *'-  eatechism,  and  e^n 
spel .   Sewmg  ,n  the  dame  sch«,ls  and  in  more  ad 
vanced  pnvate  schools  was  taught  very  largeirbv 

the makmgo  samplers.   Someofthesewere^mplt 
cop.es  of  the  horn-book  with  decorated  bordeZnd 

showth.tthesamp,ercouldteachreading, ;:;;;' 

'  G.  H.  Martin,  Evolu/inn     •  ..■      •<- 
Sy.'item  (1894).  '  ""^  Massachusetts  Public  School 


%. 


EARLY  NEW  ENGLAND  19 

sewing,  and  piety  in  the  same  piece  of  work.  The 
smallest  children  might  be  given  the  letters  of  the 
alphabet  made  in  gingerbread  and  be  permitted  as 
a  reward  to  eat  the  letters  which  they  could  recog- 
nize. Some  dame  schools  taught  nothing  but  the 
alphabet  and  v/ere  chiefly  valued  as  safe  places 
where  a  busy  mother  could  leave  her  youngest 
children  during  part  of  the  day.  Although  the 
dame  schools  were  ordinarily  supported  by  small 
fees  from  parents,  in  certain  places  the  town 
paid  something  toward  their  upkeep  as  a  cheaper 
alternative  to  establishing  a  common  school. 

As  the  frontier  pushed  farther  westward,  it  be- 
came inconvenient  for  all  the  children  in  a  spacious 
rural  township  to  go  long  distances  to  a  single 
school.  The  custom  therefore  grew  up  of  moving 
the  school,  or  rather  the  master,  from  one  part  of 
the  township  to  another.  The  school  would  be 
taught  several  weeks  in  one  place  and  then  be 
moved  on  for  the  convenience  of  another  group  of 
children,  sometimes  staying  in  each  part  of  the 
township  for  a  length  of  time  proportioned  to  what 
the  neighborhood  paid  in  taxes.  In  the  latter  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century  Connecticut  and  Massa- 
chusetts empowered  the  towns  to  divide  themselves 
into  smaller  districts  for  the  purpose  of  managing 


;^i| 


i 


'rrtM^J 


80     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

the  schools.  The  intention  of  the  law  was  good, 
for  its  aim  was  to  secure  educational  facilities 
for  every  part  of  each  township,  but  it  made  the 
schools  more  than  ever  dependent  upon  small 
neighborhoods  and  resulted  in  mismanagement. 

The  law  of  1789,  which  recognized  in  Massa- 
chusetts the  district  school  system  already  estab- 
lished in  fact  by  many  of  the  towns,  made  other 
interesting  changes  in  the  school  laws  of  the  State. 
Towns  of  one  hundred  families  were  no  longer 
compelled,  as  formerly,  to  maintain  a  grammar 
school.  This  requirement  had,  indeed,  long  been  a 
dead  letter,  and  the  law  recognized  existing  facts 
when  it  raised  the  limit  to  a  hundred  and  fifty 
families  for  a  part-time  grammar  school  and  re- 
quired a  full-time  school  only  in  towns  of  at  least 
two  hundred  familif^s.  All  teachers  were  required 
to  have  a  college  education  or  else  present  a  cer- 
tificate of  learning  and  good  character  from  a  min- 
ister of  the  gospel  "well  skMled  in  the  Greek 
and  Latin  language."  JVIinisters  and  town  ofiScials 
were  authorized  to  inspect  schools  every  six  months 
to  see  that  they  were  properly  conducted.  Ele- 
mentary schools  were  required  to  teach  arithmetic, 
spelling,  and  "decent  behavior,"  in  addition  to 
reading  and  writing  English.    This  law  marks  the 


EARLY  NEW  ENGLAND 


21 


definite  triumph  of  experience  over  expectation: 
the  common  school  system  had  firmly  established 
itself  and  the  grammar  school,  in  which  the  found- 
ers of  New  England  placed  their  greatest  hope 
amid  frontier  conditions,  had  now  all  but  perished. 


I 


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ifi  ^ 


m 


y-.    ! 


k 


CHAPTER  II 


SCHOOLS   IN   NEW  NETHERLAND 

UWI  r"  ".'*",  ""7  '^^  States-General  that  they  should  e- 

am  iL  for  a  v"    '■  "'r  ''''"'"'•  *"  '«"»"»>••  "  -«"  a,  of  poo, 
rlTfj         K         u^  '"""  '""•  '•°"'*^  ''*  «e"  »nd  Christianly  edu 

or Ihe  VetherU  n'lr  '"'^7'''"'' '"'  ^"'''  ""^  Christianity,  and 
lor  the  Netherlands  themselves.  -  John  of  Na»au. 

When  the  Dutch  planted  their  colony  in  the  valley 
of  the  Hudson,  they  were  not  constrained  as  were 
the  Puritans  of  Massachusetts  Bay  to  devise  a  sys- 
tem of  public  instruction  but  found  in  the  institu- 
tions of  their  fatherland  a  ready  model.    Indeed 
It  IS  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  the  Dutch  colo- 
nists themselves  did  not  establish  schools  but  merely 
accepted  those  provided  by  the  authorities.     So 
slight  was  the  effective  control  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment over  the  New  England  commonwealths 
that  they  were  virtually  so  many  independent 
republics  allied  to  England  by  sentiment  and  tradi- 
tion.     The  colonists  of  New  Netherland,  on  the 

22 


SCHOOLS  IN  NEW  NETHERLAND       23 

other  hund,  were  governed  autocruticully  by  offi- 
cials of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  whoi^e 
charter  of  1029  required  the  patroons  and  colo- 
nists to  support  a  minister,  a  schoolmaster,  and 
a  "comiorter  of  the  sick."  To  maintain  relig- 
ion and  learning  every  householder  and  inhabit- 
ant was  subject  to  tax,  but  the  \Vf>st  India  Com- 
pany furnished  the  schoolmasters  nd  sometimes 
contributed  to  their  support. 

It  would,  however,  be  unjust  to  infer  that  the 
Dutch  colonists  were  at  all  indifferent  to  the 
schools  establish  ■  "n  New  Netherland.  On  the 
contrary,  the  recorus  of  the  colony  show  how  eager 
the  settlers  were  to  have  schools  built  and  kept  sup- 
plied with  competent  teachers.  The  Dutchmen, 
many  of  them  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  the 
Netherlands,  would  have  considered  it  criminal  to 
allow  their  children  to  go  without  similar  advan- 
tages in  their  new  home.  But  since  most  of  the 
colonists  were  tradesmen  seeking  new  commercial 
opportunities  for  themselves  and  their  fellow- 
countrymen,  the  type  of  education  in  which  they 
were  most  interested  was  a  thorough  ground- 
ing in  the  bread  and  butter  subjects.  Unlike  the 
settlers  of  Massachusetts  and  Virginia,  the  Dutch 
colonists  never  founded  a  college  and  even  had 


i-^-J 


■ ,  1 


*i 


«4     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  I\  EDITATION 

to  wait  for  some  twenty  years  after  elementary 
schools  had  been  started  before  they  had  a  Latin 
grammar  school. 

The  city  then  called  New  Amsterdam  was  the 
first  Dutch  settlement  to  enjoy  a  public  school. 
Adam  Roelantsen,  the  first  schoolmaster,  opened 
school  probably  in  1C33.    It  must  be  confessed  that 
Roelantsen  was  far  from  being  in  all  respects  a 
credit  to  his  profession.    Little  is  known  about  his 
skill  as  a  teacher,  but  it  is  a  fact  that  he  was  con- 
stantly involved  in  lawsuits  and  frequently  accused 
of  slander  and  disorderly  conduct.    After  Roelant- 
sen abandoned  bis  position,  the  school  was  con- 
tinued somewhat  irregularly  by  a  number  of  other 
schoolmasters.    For  want  of  an  adequate  building 
the  teachers  were  ^.r.^?n  forced  to  keep  school  in 
private  houses  or  ii*  public  buildings  intended  for 
other  purposes.     The  pay  which  the  teacher  re- 
ceived was  frequently  insufficient  to  maintain  him. 
Sometimes    the    New  Amsterdam    school    could 
find  no  one  who  would  consent  to  undertake  its 
charge,  and  the  children  were  without  schooling  for 
months  at  a  time,  though  a  few  struggling  private 
schools  shared  with  the  public  school  the  work  of 
instructing  the  children  of  the  city. 
New  Amsterdam  was  not  the  only  Dutch  colonial 


1 


SCHOOLS  IN  NEW  NETHERLAND       f 

town  to  support  a  public  school.  All  of  the  other 
towns  and  villngo.sof  any  importance  in  Now  Neth- 
erland  established  schools  as  soon  as  they  wore 
populous  enouf^h  to  warrant  the  expense.  Even 
far-away  New  Amstel  (now  New  Castle,  Delaware) 
was  supplied  with  a  Dutch  teachei,  although  at 
tliat  time  the  majority  of  the  townsmen  were 
Swedes.  Only  in  the  country  districts  and  in  the 
poorer  villages  was  public  education  not  provided. 
In  the  outlying  settlements  the  difficulty  of  obtain- 
ing good  schoolhouses  and  good  teachers  was  even 
greater  than  in  New  Amsterdam,  and  in  spite 
of  every  effort  on  the  part  of  their  parents  many 
children  grew  up  without  any  regular  schooling. 

In  1652  a  Latin  school  w^as  started  in  what  had 
earlier  been  the  "city  tavern"  of  New  Amsterdam, 
but  the  experiment  was  very  soon  abandoned. 
The  colonists  thereupon  petitioned  the  West  India 
Company  to  send  them  some  one  competent  to 
teach  Latin  aud  other  advanced  studies.  In  their 
appeal  they  pointed  out  that  many  of  the  citizens 
desired  for  their  children  the  advantages  of  a  Latin 
education,  but  that  there  was  no  place  nearer  than 
Boston  where  this  want  could  be  supplied.  In  1 659 
the  West  India  Company  in  response  to  their  ap- 
peal sent  the  learned  Dr.  Alexander  Curtius  to 


i    J 


?#' 


lii 


n, 


I 


««     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
the  colony  a.  Latin  schoolmaster.     He  received  a 
moderate  salary,  a  house  and  garden,  fees  from  hi. 
pupils,  and  rM'rmission  to  practice  medicine.    Not 
succmling  very  well  with  his  charge,  however. 
Ur.  Curt.,,«  wr,s  soon  replaced  by  the  Reverend 
^gidim  Luyck.    The  I^tin  school  was  largely 
supported    by    the    local    authorities,    although 
part  of  the  teacher's  salary  was  guaranteed  by 
tne  Company. 

The    Dutch    elementary    schools    in    America 
taught  little  except  reading,  writing,  arithmetic, 
and  the  catechism.   Sometimes,  as  in  the  New  Eng- 
land schools  of  the  seventeenth  century,  even  arith- 
metic  was  omitted  from  the  course  of  .study     But 
religious  instruction  was  never  neglected;  in  fact 
after  the  English  conquest  many  of  the  old  Dutch 
public  schools  continued  their  existence  as  private 
parochial  schools,  still  giving  instruction  in  the 
Dutch  language  to  the  descen.lants  of  the  first 
settlers.     The  change  was  the  more  easily  made 
because  even  under  the  Dutch  regime  these  school^ 
had  been  in  part  supported  by  fees  from  well-to-do 
parents  who  had  children  in  attendance.    A  typical 
teacher's  contract,  with  one  Evert  Pietorsen.  as- 
signed him  a  salary  of  36  flo.ins  a  month.'  125 

'  A  florin  is  about  forty  cents  in  our  coinage. 


K    t 


J 


SCH(K)LS  IN  NKW  NETHKULAM)       87 

florins  for  honrti,  free  hoii8(>,  h  ncIiooI  building,  and 
free  paMNuge  buck  to  Holland  at  the  conclusion  of 
hi8  service.  I*arents  whose  <'hildren  were  ut  school 
paid  more  or  less  according  to  whether  the  pupil 
studied  reading,  writing,  and  ciphering,  or  only 
reading  and  writing;  l)ut  it  was  also  stipulated  that 
"the  poor  an<l  needy,  who  ask  to  be  taught  for 
God's  sake,  he  shall  teach  for  nothing."'  Most  of 
the  school-books  w«."e  religious  in  character  and, 
though  arithmetics  and  primers  were  not  unknown, 
the  Bible,  the  catechism,  and  the  )salm-book  were 
the  chief  readers  in  use.  Girls  us  well  as  boys  went 
to  the  public  school  but  sat  apart  from  the  boys 
or,  if  possible,  were  taught  in  another  room. 

Nowhere  in  America  did  the  schoolmaster  com- 
bine more  offices  in  one  than  he  did  among  the 
Dutch.  The  teacher  was  commonly  both  reader 
and  precentor  in  the  church;  frequently  he  was  also 
the  sexton ;  sometimes  he  was  the  **  comforter  of  the 
sick,"  a  ministration  which  blended  religion  and 
medicine.  Many  of  the  school  contracts  specify 
in  minutest  detail  the  incidental  duties  of  the 
schoolmaster  even  to  the  ringing  of  the  church  bell 
and  the  provision  of  water  for  the  baptism  of  in- 
fants.    If  these  auxiliary  occupations  may  have 

'  Kilpatrick.  Dutch  Schools  of  New  Setherland,  p.  08. 


ii 


28     AMERK  AN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

detracted  a  little  from  the  scholarly  dignity  of  the 
teacher,  they  nevertheless  enriched  his  purse  with 
inuch  needed  fees  and  increased  his  usefulness  in 
the  eyes  of  the  community.    If  long  hours  deserve 
a  good  salary,  the  Dutch  schoolmaster  was  cer- 
tamly  not  overpaid,  for  the  school  day  began  at 
eight  m  the  morning  and  lasted,  with  a  noon  recess 
or  lunch,  till  four  in  the  afternoon.    There  was  no 
long  vacation  during  the  year,  unless,  of  course,  the 
school  was  unable  to  find  a  teacher.    There  were 
however,  festival  laolidays,  and  Wednesday  and 
Saturday  afternoons  were  usually  free. 

Though  the  public  school  system  of  the  Dutch 
colonists  may  have  been  imperfect  and  inadequate 
when  judged  by  the  standards  of  colonial  Massa- 
chusetts,  it  was  superior  to  anything  that  the  newly 
established  English  Government  was  ready  to  put 
m  Its  place.    The  English  settlers  practically  ig- 
nored  the  Dutch  establishment  of  public  education 
and  sent  their  own  children  to  private  schools  or 
let  them  do  without  instruction  -  the  custom  not 
only  m  England  itself  but  in  the  majority  of  the 
English  colonies. 

The  people  of  New  York,  however,  made  a  few 
attempts  to  obtain  some  measure  of  public  sup- 
port for  the  schools.    In  1702  they  passed  a  law 


SCHOOLS  IN  NEW  NETHERLAND       29 

authorizing  the  public  support  of  a  school  teacher  in 
New  York  City  to  instruct  "male  children  of  such 
parents  as  are  of  French  and  Dutch  extraction  as 
well  as  of  the  English."  This  school  lasted,  it  is 
true,  for  only  seven  years,  but  in  1732  the  income 
from  licenses  issued  to  hawkers  '1  peddlers  was 
granted  by  the  Government  to  a  sc.iool  for  teaching 
Latin,  Greek,  and  mathematics,  and  free  scholar- 
ships were  provided  for  twenty  young  men  from 
different  parts  of  the  colony.  But  this  school,  also, 
had  a  brief  existence. 

More  important  than  such  slight  and  temporary 
aid  of  popular  education  was  the  part  which  the 
colonial  Government  played  in  the  supervision  of 
private  schools,  even  though  this  oversight  was 
more  in  the  interest  of  religion  than  in  the  cause  of 
eflBcient  instruction.  No  teachers  might  come  from 
England  to  teach  in  New  York  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  no  resi- 
dent of  New  York  might  open  a  school  without 
license  from  the  Governor.  These  restrictions 
gave  the  Church  of  England  a  favored  position  of 
which  it  was  not  slow  to  take  advantage.  During 
the  eighteenth  century  the  instruction  of  the  poor 
of  New  York  came  almost  entirely  under  the  care 
of  an  Anglican  missionary  association  known  as 


m 


1 

...CI 

■J  I 

1 1 

111 


i     ■ 

f 


jhi^ktm 


80     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

.1..    J      ..  "'  "ff^c'ed  to  some  dexree 

the  edueat,o„.I  life  of  all  the  colonies.    I„  ^ 

Ht itoie  Tr ^ "'  ""^  <^»"«-«.tio„aii : 

feft  httle  room  for  Anglican  ™issiona,y  effort,  and 
the  completeness  of  the  public  sch«,l  system  dis 

buHn  1?  7T'""' "'  ''"™'<'  '"""'^  -hoot 
EnZd"":  1  *''"  '■""""•-P^  —  Church  . 
England  schools  were  organised.   In  other  parts  of 

My  „  New  York,  where  the  rapidly  increas- 
ing and  cosmopolitan  population  and  the  lack, 

=::iltt°"'"^™'-~-" 

But  the  establishment  of  schools  was  a  second- 
ary matter  to  the  Society  for  the  Propagatr'f 

theGospel.   Its  chief  aim  was  evangelicalfits  mam 

andtol.  ^."™''°''''^'^''"'^''°'E■'S'"'^■ 
But,  Idee  the  Jesmts  of  old  and  the  modern  mission- 
anes  to  India  or  China,  the  missionaries  of  t"lTp 

th':  71 "  J""'" ''"°""'  ^°""  '"^"--■^  that 
the  only  way  to  evangelize  was  to  teach.   In  their 


'-4., 


SCHOOLS  IN  NEW  NETHERLAND       31 


charity  schools  they  emphasized  the  catechism  and 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Anglican  ritual,  but 
they  also  found  it  advisable  to  teach  the  children 
"to  write  a  plain  and  legible  hand  in  order  to  the 
fitting  them  for  useful  Employments;  with  as  much 
Arithmetick  as  shall  be  necessary  to  the  same  Pur- 
pose." The  Society  supported  between  five  and 
ten  schools  in  the  colony  of  New  York  up  to  the 
time  of  the  American  Revolution  and  gave  aid 
to  many  others.  In  New  York  City  the  Trinity 
Church  charity  school  received  help  from  the  local 
authorities  as  well  as  from  the  Society  and  at  one 
time  held  session  in  the  City  Hall. 

The  oflScers  of  the  Society  exercised  great  care 
in  selecting  their  missionaries.  All  had  to  be  sound 
in  the  faith  and  well-affected  toward  the  existing 
Government,  and  married  schoolmasters  usually 
were  required  to  take  their  wives  with  them  to 
America.  Teachers  were  expected  to  send  home 
two  reports  a  year  of  the  progress  of  their  work, 
but  this  duty  they  frequently  neglected,  as  ade- 
quate supervision  was  impossible  when  the  central 
organization  was  separated  from  its  agents  by  the 
width  of  the  Atlantic.  The  Society  kept  its  schools 
supplied  with  generous  donations  of  text-books,  for 
the  most  part  of  •,  purely  religious  character.     In 


I  :.,-:. 


w 

I  X 

.S  : 


{  ,\ 


«     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

from    pure  V   m  ''"^^''''  °^"^^  ^^^  ^^o^e 

"'    purely    missionary   activitip^    t«       j- 
school  work    AftPrn«-       "^"v«'«    to   ordmary 

ing  which  the  New  fJaTT'  ""''  """'''■ool- 

to  the  poof  leTl"  °      ''"'•™'^"«'™''''-'"'^ 
»•  Ji-ng  s  College  early  advocated  the 


SCHOOLS  IN  NEW  NETHERLAND        33 

public  endowment  of  education,  but  it  was  not  until 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  the  L  ^ttle 
for  the  free  school  system  was  finally  won. 

Another  obstacle  which  the  friends  of  learning 
encountered  in  New  York,  and  one  which  was  only 
k'ss  formidable  than  the  tradition  that  education 
was  a  private  rather  than  a  public  concern,  was  the 
swamping  of  the  commercial  centers  by  incessant 
immigration  in  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  cen- 
turies. Private  educational  agencies  were  quite  un- 
able to  cope  with  the  growing  problem  of  illiteracy, 
especially  when  it  was  willful  illiteracy.  As  early  as 
1713  Chaplain  John  Sharp  of  the  royal  army  in  New 
York  complained  that  "the  city  is  so  conveniently 
Situated  for  Trade  and  the  Genius  of  the  people  are 
so  inclined  to  merchandise,  that  they  generally  seek 
no  other  Education  for  their  children  than  writing 
and  Arithmetick.  So  that  letters  must  be  in  a 
manner  forced  upon  them  not  only  without  their 
seeking  but  against  their  consent." '  It  was  just  this 
neces?  •  element  of  compulsion  that  was  lacking 
in  the  ^  nc  i  -.ystem  of  colonial  New  York,  and  the 
results  of  this  defect  proved  to  be  far-reaching. 


I 


t  '' 


le 


'  W.  W.  Kemp,  The  Support  of  Schools  in  Colonial  New  York 
by  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Partt 
(1912),  p.  68. 
3 


f  i 


i      M. 

i  i  V 


'f 


ii^Mfe 


CHAPTER  III 

SCHOOLS   OF  THE   MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN 
COLONIES 

strange  tongue  or  t  vo.  £'  U  i.  r'tr™""  ""'  ''"^'°"'^'  "'^ «' 
them:  leaving  their  naturl  •      .  **"  ""^  ''*^*'  '^  "^*^"'  »» 

or  -atural  knowX  „„  '  ,  •'''7;  '"  "^^'"'°i'^«'  -nd  physical 
beofexceedinn,eaLT"  u""*^  °"«'*'^*'''^'  ^'"'^h  '^-"^ 

of  their  lifrVo  be  2r''"  ""''*'*''''''"'*"""'' 

neglected.    But  "hinJ;  Ltmrr  '?  ""*  ^'^  ''^  •^"P'«««'  <>' 
laings  are  still  to  be  preferred.  -  Wmam  Penn. 

was  the  Quaker  settlement  planned  by  AVillfam 
Penn  ,„  the  wilderness  of  Pennsylvania.    Religious 
toIerat,o„.  fa,r  dealing  with  the  Indians,  and  the 
mstruotmn  of  all  children  in  godliness,  industry, 
and  learmng  were  parts  of  the  enlightened  plan 
projected  by  the  founder  and  first  proprietor.    The 
mteafons  of  William  Penn  were  seconded  by  the 
^etUers,  who  passed  a  law  that  .-.ll  children  should 
be  taught  -so  that  they  may  be  able  to  read  the 
Scnptures  and  to  write  by  the  time  they  attain  to 

.•54 


MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  COLONIES   85 

twelve  years  of  age;  and  that  then  they  be  taught 
some  useful  trade  or  skill,  that  the  poor  may  work 
to  live,  and  the  rich  if  they  become  poor  may  not 
want:  Of  which  every  County  Court  shall  take 
care."  In  1683,  the  year  in  which  this  law  was  en- 
acted, Enoch  Flower  opened  a  school  in  Philadel- 
phia under  the  authority  of  the  Provincial  Council. 
Six  years  later  a  Latin  grammar  school,  which  still 
exists  as  the  William  Penn  Charter  School,  gave  the 
Philadelphia  children  an  opportunity  for  higher 
education.  To  this  school  poor  children  were  ad- 
mitted free,  but  those  who  could  afford  to  do  so 
had  to  pay. 

The  Friends,  or  Quakers,  resembled  the  Dutch 
in  their  zeal  for  elementary  education  and  their 
comparative  indifference  to  the  college,  though 
not  a  few  of  the  Quakers  were  themselves  graduates 
of  English  universities.  Yet  in  an  age  which  valued 
the  college  chiefly  as  a  means  for  training  an  edu- 
cated ministry,  the  Quakers  on  account  of  their 
peculiar  beliefs  had  less  reason  than  others  to  set 
much  value  on  higher  education.  They  believed 
not  that  the  clergy  were  an  order  of  men  set  ^part 
from  the  community  by  superior  learning  but  that 
the  word  of  God  might  come  as  readily  from  the 
lips  of  an  ignorant  man  as  from  those  of  the  scholar. 


3«     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
The  Quak       ,      j^^  ^^  ^|,^^^  ._^ 

»d  the,,  ,.h«,.,  .ended  to  l„«e  their  pubhc  cha  : 
acter  .„d  to  become  purely  denominational.    The 
very  rehgious  tolerance  of  the  Quaker,,  which  wa 
«.  greatly  to  their  credit,  prevented  the  cstlb 
hshment  o(  any  general  .y.ten,  of  education  t 
Penn,,^van,a.    So  many  per«,„,  „,  every  dcnom" 
nation  flocked  to  this  haven  of  liberty  that  no  on 
church   not  even  that  of  the  Friend,,  wa,  ablcT 
domma.  the  colony  and  impo.  it,  „wn  .hoo. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  Pennsylvania  suffered 
the  ..me  fate  as  nearly  all  the  other  colonies.    The 
edueafonal  .mpi^ss  of  the  first  founders  was  oblit- 
erated by  the  mflux  of  immigrants  of  a  new  tyj^, 
men  frequently  themselves  as  well  educated  as  th 
or,g,nal  colon.sts  but  less  concerned  for  the  cause 
o^^  education.     The  submergenc.  of  the  Dutch 
schools  m  New  Netherland  and  the  lax  cnforc^ 
men    of  the  school  laws  in  Ma.«achusetts  we" 
paralleled  by  the  fading  out  of  William  PcnJ 
deal  of  education  in  the  colony  which  he  had 
founded.    In  some  respects  Pennsylvania  had  to 
^  greater  difficulties  than  did  the  other  clonics 

Nowhere  else  in  America,  perhaps,  was  there  so 
httle  unity  m  the  population  as  here.    Catholics, 


Hx 


r 


MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  COLONIES    37 

Quakers,  Dutch  Reformed,  Lutherans,  Episcopa- 
lians, Baptists,  and  Methodists  all  had  their  oivn 
church  schools  and  refused  to  send  their  children 
to  any  other.  In  addition  to  the  more  powerful 
denominations,  an  unusual  number  of  tiny  sects, 
such  as  the  Moravians,  Mennonites,  Amish, 
Schwenkfelders,  Dunkers,  and  Seventh  Day  Bap- 
tists, founded  their  settlements  within  the  prov- 
ince. There  was,  moreover,  as  little  harmony  of 
race  as  there  was  of  religion.  The  Swedes  and 
Dutch  along  the  Delaware  still  clung  desperately 
to  their  old  language  and  customs;  Germans,  often 
referred  to  as  "Pennsylvania  Dutch  "  by  their  Eng- 
lish neighbors,  settled  the  country  in  large  num- 
bers; and  the  Scotch-Irish  became  a  vanguard  on 
the  edge  of  the  backwoods  in  the  West. 

As  the  most  numerous  of  the  alien  elements  of 
the  population,  the  Germans  early  attracted  the 
benevolent  interest  of  the  English  and  to  such  a 
degree  that  in  1754  there  was  organized  in  London 
a  "Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Christian  Knowl- 
edge Among  the  Germans  in  America."  The  free 
schools  founded  by  this  missionary  agency  were 
unquestionabl'.  needed,  but  the  Germans  resented 
the  patronizing  implication  that  they  were  fit  ob- 
jects of  charity,  and  they  also  feared  that  if  their 


:  >■  I 


'.i 


1 

m 


H 


1 1 


88     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

children  went  to  these  school,  they  might  forget 
their  native  language  and  abandon  the  religion 
of  their  fathers.     Isolated  by  distance  from  the 
welJ-educated  people  of  Germany  and  unwilling  to 
enter  heartily  into  what  was  to  them  a  foreign  cuL 
ture.  the  Pennsylvania  Germans  too  frequently 
grew  indifferent  to  the  schooling  of  their  children 
though  their  churches,  notab'y  the  Moravian,  la- 
bored  to  keep  alive  to  some  extent  the  old  love  of 
learning.  In  consequence,  though  the  educated  were 
but  few,  they  never  wholly  "ceased  out  of  the  land  " 
Delaware,  settled  by  the  Swedes,  is  another  ex- 
ample of  high  colonial  hopes  disappointed.    Swe- 
den stood  second  to  no  country  in  Europe  in 
the  matter  of  elementary  education.    About  the 
time  the  Delaware  settlement  was  made,  it  is  said, 
there  was  not  a  peasant  child  in  Sweden  who  had 
not  been  taught  to  read  and  write.    The  instruc- 
tions for  the  colony  of  New  Sweden  in  1640  re- 
quired the  patrons  of  the  colony  to  support  "as 
many  ministers  and  schoolmasters  as  the  numbe 
of  mhabitants  shall  seem  to  require."    But  we  fi; 
the  colonists  of  a  later  date  complaining  that  th.y 
were  without  regular  schools,  that  the  clergy  who 
essayed  to  teach  the  children  were  unequal  to  their 
task,  and  that  there  was  an  almost  complete  dearth 


fc 


MIDDf.E  AND  SOUTHERN  (•OIX)NIES  30 
of  school-liooks.  Ill  spite  of  the  fact  that  New 
Sweden  was  no  longer  a  political  dependency  of 
the  mother  country,  the  Swedes  responded  to  this 
appeal  by  sending  over  catechisms,  primers,  and 
various  religious  works.  The  colonists  on  their 
part  supported  itinerant  schoolmasters  who  taught 
in  private  houses  and  combined  the  exercise  of 
their  profession  with  the  various  duties  of  reader, 
clerk,  sexton,  or  precentor  in  the  local  church. 

Parish  schools  and  a  supply  of  catechisms  from 
Sweden  did  not,  however,  suffice  to  keep  alive  a 
separate  national  culture  in  so  small  and  isolated 
a  community.  The  Swedish  colony  became  at  last 
but  a  part  of  an  English-speaking  community  of 
very  diverse  origin,  and  its  early  experiments  in 
education  left  no  traceable  mark  on  the  later  edu- 
cational history  of  Delaware.  The  Dutch,  during 
their  brief  occupation,  and  the  Quakers,  while  Dela- 
ware was  still  a  part  of  Pennsylvania,  encouraged 
free  schools  within  the  limits  of  the  province;  but 
in  the  eighteenth  century  education  in  Delaware 
fell  into  public  neglect  and  became  wholly  a  matter 
of  private  charity. 

New  Jersey,  for  a  time  part  of  the  Dutch  colony 
of  New  Netherland,  was  the  object  of  as  much  edu- 
cational solicitude  as  the  region  east  of  the  Hudson. 


i 


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*\4 


K'  If 


v^BC 


40     AMERICAN  SPIIUT  IN  EDUCATION 
Later,  under  the  rul  ■  of  the  '•proprietors"  .  f  East 
and  West  Jersey,  tlu   iinglish  undertook  the  taak 
of  public  education.    In  1682  the  Assembly  of  West 
Jersey  granted  to  tht    ou  n  of  Buriington  the  island 
of  Matinicunk  ,n  the  Dt  laware  River  for  the  sup- 
port  of  schools;  and  v.*  ,u>    rent  times  several  other 
generous  land  gran        v,,  .  ^^,i^  j„  important 
towns.    The  Asisei    m     ,.f  '  ,»st  Jersey  authorized 
the  inhabitants  of  a.  .v  to\v  n  in  the  province  to  levy 
taxesfor  theestabli  <  ru.  ,-  ,..,d  .sur-pnr*  of  schools- 
but.  after  New  Jer.,-      .eruu.,  ,  . .  province  in 

1702.  this  attempt  nt  ^^u.n  <<.  • :  public  school  sys- 
tem  was  not  followed. .p.  >  .v.  -rsey  in  the  eight- 
eenth century  becam. .  like  all  its  ueighbors,  a  land 
of  private  schools. 

The  Southern  Colonies  followed  more  closely  the 
educational  system  of  England,  since  they  were  not 
affected  either  by  the  Puritan  zeal  for  public  educa- 
tion dominant  in  New  England  or  by  the  Dutch, 
Swedish.   German,   or  Quaker  traditions  of  the 
parish  school  as  an  adjunct  to  the  local  church 
which  in  one  form  or  another  characterized  the 
school  systems  of  the  Middle  Colonies.    English 
traditions  favored  the  foundation  of  private  second- 
ary schools  and  colleges  under  public  patronage 
but  did  not  encourage  a  general  system  of  free 


MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHKRN  COLONIES    41 

elementary  !»chools.  There  wus,  however,  a  trace  of 
compulsion  in  th«  laws  which  requirH  gnurdians 
to  take  care  that  orphan  children  received  an  edu- 
cation suitable  to  their  station  in  lifr,  and  in  the 
apprentice  Inws  which  Hufeguarde<l  the  interests  of 
those  who  were  hound  out  to  labor.  One  or  two  of 
the  Southern  Colonies  advanct>d  a  little  beyond 
English  precedent.  Maryland  and  South  Caro- 
lina experimented  during  the  eighteenth  century 
with  a  system  of  tax-supported  county  schools, 
and,  though  the  law  was  not  carried  out  in  rither 
colony  to  its  full  intent,  the  i)oor  of  the  more  im- 
portant towns  always  bad  some  opportunity  for  a 
free  education. 

Maryland  passed  a  law  in  inoO  creating  a  cor- 
poration to  establish  and  govern  county  schools, 
but  King  William's  School  at  Annapolis  was  the 
only  public  school  established  under  this  central- 
ized system.  The  Assembly  in  1723  established  a 
fund  for  the  county  schools  and  arranged  for  their 
government  by  boards  of  visitors  in  each  county. 
These  Latin  grammar  schools  were  free  to  the  poor 
but  required  fees  of  those  who  were  able  to  pay; 
they  varied  a  great  deal  in  merit;  an<l  they  had 
diflBculty  in  finding  competent  schoolmasters  at  the 
small  salaries  they  offered.    As  late  as  1797  there 


Ivi 


if 


i  ■■■[ 


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4«      AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
was  complaint  that  King  William's  was  the  only 
adequately  endowed  school  in  Maryland  and  that 
two-th.rds  of  the  little  education  we  receive  are 
derived  from  instructors  who  are  either  indentured 
servants  or  transported  felons.'"     It  gives  the 
modern  reader  something  of  a  shock  to  read  of  a 
reward  offered  for  the  return  to  his  master  of  a  run- 
away "schoolmaster,  of  a  pale  complexion,  with 
short  hair.     He  has  the  itch  very  bad.  and  sore 
legs,    and  again  "he  is  a  great  taker  of  snuff  and 
very  apt  to  get  drunk." 

In  the  Carolinas  special  acts  by  the  colonial 
egislatures  permitted  individual  towns  to  estab- 
lish schools,  but  sometimes  a  town  failed  to  take 
advantage  of  this  permissive  law.    South  Carolina 
by  laws  enacted  in  1710  and  1712.  founded  a  gram- 
mar school  at  Charleston  which  was  to  be  open  to 
the  poor  and  authorized  the  establishment  of  a 
general  system  of  parish  schools.    The  provisions 
of  these  laws  were  not  effectively  carried  out  except 
m  the  city  of  Charleston,  but  several  county  gram- 
mar schools  were  later  established  on  a  basis  similar 
to  that  of  the  Maryland  schools.    In  both  Carolinas 
the  education  of  the  poor  was  largely  taken  in  hand 

B„r"'"7l!.^'   '^'''""'  "'""'^  Of  Education  in  Maryland   V   S 
Bureau  of  Education  (1894;.  No.  1».  pp.  84-38.  """*"'  ^-  ^- 


MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  COLONIES  48 
by  the  Church  of  England  through  the  charity 
schools  established  by  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts.  Georgia  was 
founded  so  late  in  the  colonial  period  that  it  hardly 
requires  any  special  notice  except  for  the  fact  that 
the  British  Crown,  when  it  took  over  the  colony 
from  its  trustees,  continued  to  support  a  nu'nister 
and  two  schoolmasters. 

The  distinction  between  schooling  and  education 
was  particularly  marked  in  the  South.    Some  of 
the  best  educated  men  in  America  came  from  the 
South,  and  yet  some  of  the  best  educated  men  of 
the  South  never  saw  the  inside  of  a  school  building. 
Even  before  the  Revolutionary  War  many  planta- 
tion owners  hired  as  private  tutors  for  their  chil- 
dren men  who  might  have  any  degree  of  education 
from  that  of  the  indentured  servant  who  could 
barely  read  and  write  to  that  of  the  cultured  grad- 
uate of  Oxford  or  Cambridge.    Plantation  life  itself 
was  a  liberal  education  in  agriculture,  business 
management,  horsemanship,  and  the  conventions 
of  polite  society  —  subjects  as  essential  in  those 
days  to  a  well-rounded  career  as  any  of  the  more 
academic  branches.    If  a  type  of  education  is  to 
have  its  value  estimated  by  its  products,  the  South- 
ern plantation  must  rank  as  one  of  the  best  of 


¥; 


44     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

schools,  since  it  supplied  so  many  of  the  statesmen 
of  the  Revolution  and  of  the  early  republic.  The 
educational  advantages  of  the  plantation  were, 
however,  for  the  very  few.  The  poor  man  rarely 
had  an  opportunity  to  advance  his  children  beyond 
a  knowledge  of  the  three  R's  and  could  have  them 
taught  so  much  only  by  accepting  charity. 

Well-to-do  men  in  all  the  colonies,  but  especially 
in  the  South,  frequently  sent  their  boys  to  schools 
and  colleges  in  England.    Just  as  our  great  Eastern 
universities  today  draw  students  from  the  South 
and  West,  so  in  those  earlier  days  did  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  attract  the  ambitious  youth  of  America. 
It  was  hard  to  establish  colleges  on  the  new  con- 
tinent when  they  had  to  compete  with  the  prestige 
of  such  ancient  and  well-endowed  institutions  of 
learning  in  the  Old  World.    If  the  voyage  to  Eng- 
land had  not  then  been  so  long,  costly,  and  hazard- 
ous, several  of  the  colonial  colleges  might  never 
have  been  founded.    Some  discerning  Englishmen 
saw  in  this  intellectual  dependence  on  the  mother 
country  one  of  the  surest  bonds  which  kept  the 
British    Empire   from    disintegration,    and    they 
viewed  with  a  mixture  of  sympathy  and  apprehen- 
sion the  rise  of  new  academies  and  colleges.    Said 
one    William   Eddis.  a  surveyor  of   customs  at 


MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  COLONIES    45 

Annapolis,  in  1773 :  *'  When  the  real  or  supposed  ne- 
cessity ceases  of  sending  the  youth  of  this  continent 
to  distant  seminaries  for  the  completion  of  their 
education,  the  attachment  of  the  colonies  to  Great 
Britain  will  gradually  weaken,  and  a  less  frequent 
intercourse  will  tend  to  encourage  those  sentiments 
of  self-importance  which  have  already  taken  too 
deep  root,  and  which,  I  fear,  the  utmost  exer- 
tions of  political  wisdom  will  never  be  able  wholly 
to  eradicate."' 

Perhaps  Cecil  Rhodes  had  in  mind  the  omen  of 
this  true  prophecy  when  he  established  scholarships 
at  Oxford  for  the  youth  of  the  British  Dominions. 
When  a  colony  makes  its  own  laws  and  its  own 
hardware,  it  may  still  be  loyal  to  the  mother  coun- 
try from  motives  of  sentiment;  but  when  it  writes 
its  own  books  and  reads  its  own  newspapers,  it 
loses  all  sense  of  dependence  and  becomes  either  a 
new  nation  or  an  equal  partner  within  a  common 
federation.  The  schools  and  colleges  of  America, 
imperfect  and  inadequate  though  they  were, 
sufficed  even  at  an  early  date  to  create  a  separate 
"consciousness  of  kind"  among  the  colonists  and 
helped  to  make  possible  the  establishment  of  the 
United  States. 

'  Steiner.  op.  eit..  p.  St. 


.'M 


,,     1^ 


i    4 


\1 


CHAPTER  IV 


THE  COLONIAL  COLLKGB 

After  WM  had  builded  our  houses,  provided  necesMriea  for  our 
II .  elihood.  reared  convenient  places  for  God's  worship,  and  setled 
the  .iviJI  Government,  one  of  the  next  things  wee  longed  for  and 
lookcL  after  was  to  advance  Learning  and  to  perpetuate  it  to 
Postent.r:  dreading  to  leave  an  illiterate  minist-jry  to  the  Churches, 
when  our  present  Ministers  shall  lie  in  the  Dust.  And  as  wee  were 
thinking  and  consulting  how  to  effect  this  great  Work,  it  pleased 
God  to  stir  up  the  heart  of  one  Mr.  Harvard  (a  godly  gentleman 
and  a  lover  of  Learning,  there  living  amongst  us)  to  give  the  one- 
half  of  his  estate  (it  being  in  all  about  £l.700)  towards  the  erect- 
ing of  a  Colledge.  and  all  his  library.  After  him  another  gave 
£300;  others  after  them  cast  in  more,  and  the  publique  hand  of 
the  State  added  the  rest.  —  New  England'*  Firtt  FruU*. 

Could  John  Harvard  revisit  the  university  which 
bears  his  name  and  the  town  which  bears  that  of 
his  own  Alma  Mater,  Cambridge,  he  would  doubt- 
less find  much  to  surprise  him.  but  he  would  find 
that  America  still  combined  the  most  munificent 
private  generosity  towards  the  cause  of  higher 
education  with  the  unfailing  aid  of  "the  publique 
hand  of  the  State."    The  colonial  college,  of  which 


THE  COLONIAL  COLLEGE  47 

Harvard  was  the  first  example,  is  the  parent  not 
only  of  the  modem  private  university  but  of  the 
State  supported  institution  as  well.  Even  in  the 
colonies  outside  New  England  where  the  Govern- 
ment did  little  for  the  common  schools,  the  college 
was  never  left  wholly  dependent  upon  fees  and 
benefactions.  The  public  authorities  were  always 
ready  to  do  something,  if  it  were  only  to  hold  a 
lottery  in  aid  of  the  endowment. 

The  bequest  of  the  godly  John  Harvard  came  in 
the  nick  of  time  to  save  the  struggling  young  col- 
lege founded  in  1636  at  Newtown,  later  Cambridge. 
The  £400  voted  by  the  General  Court  of  the  Colo- 
ny of  Massachusetts  Bay  proved  hardly  sufficient 
to  build  a  flourishing  school,  although  it  amounted 
to  as  much  as  all  other  public  expenses  of  the 
colony  for  that  year.  John  Harvard's  bequest  of 
two  hundred  and  sixty  books,  mainly  treatises  on 
theology,  was  a  bigger  proportionate  addition  to 
the  intellectual  resources  of  the  community  than  a 
gift  of  the  million  volumes  now  on  the  shelves  of 
Harvard  library  would  be  today.  It  was  an  acci- 
dent or,  as  Puritan  Massachusetts  would  have  said, 
a  providence  that  the  College  ever  received  this 
bequest,  for  John  Harvard,  when  he  died  in  1638, 
had  been  in  the  colony  barely  a  year. 


fj  1 


48     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

All  the  colonial  colleges  made  an  attempt  to  copy 
the  English  universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge, 
but  they  were  at  first  too  poor  to  become  universi- 
ties in  the  English  sense  of  federations  of  many 
undergraduate  colleges.    Each  college  was  wholly 
simple  in  its  structure,  with  but  one  faculty  and 
one  course  of  study.    The  American  system  never, 
indeed,  included  under  the  nominal  control  of  one' 
examining  body  a  number  of  coordinate  colleges 
of   independent   foundation    oflFering   practically 
similar  courses  of  study.     When,  in  later  years, 
new  schools  and  departments  were  founded  and 
the  American  college  developed  into  the  American 
university,  there  still  remained  but  one  general  or 
academic  college  apart  from  the  specialized  pro- 
fessional schools.    The  early  colonial  college  itself 
was  originally  in  one  respect  something  of  a  pro- 
fessional school,  as  its  foremost  aim  was  not  to 
give  "the  education  of  a  gentleman  "  to  young  men 
of  means  and  leisure  but  to  train  alearned  ministry. 
The  formal  education  which  was  prevalent  in 
Europe  in  the  seventeenth  centiiry  and  which  was 
transplanted  to  colonial  America  emphasized  two 
subjects:  the  classics  of  Greece  and  Rome  and  the 
duties  of  the  Christian  to  his  Creator.     In  those 
days  Latin  was  the  language  of  culture,  and  theology 


!!"»*li 


MtlUU  fAlB\ 


tad '  T'lirt ■-'f Tn-rlThi^pfiiM  il<i|l  jfi '  Yde.      BifAvdMll'  Iw 


ijf 


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./MiM  •.l.iY  .ll,;M  iMiiiiil/.  Ill         Kf  .(ii,„u,,\   /.I  j,nH<ri(,T 
ii.-.l.nin..   I..,i.»  ..'I   I,'   ,,'ji,,/,  ,^,,.,.1  v:;.ii.:)<l  v.i  •'>':(   -li  |,..li|.„..iM 
■'     l-'i;f-'-i.|   ;i  I,,/     •),,     ;,:,,)■!•,,. .,(1     -„;-./,,--     t.,.|     J,,: 

./li,v. .:(."!  •.!.  y   li,  ii..n.;i.i;j  ,.,„H  .,'.,„.,>1    /•-•.a.,i/.  ■'.,    /-vliih.-. 


I 


THE  COLONIAL  COLLEGE  4$ 

waa  queen  of  the  sciences.  The  boy  who  had  grad- 
uated from  a  grammur  school  was  exptcted  to  be 
able  to  read  and  write  easy  Latin  and  to  know  a 
little  of  Greek  grammar.  Did  his  knowledge  ex- 
tend to  these  points,  he  had  satisfied  the  require- 
ments for  admission  to  Harvard.  Nobody  both- 
ered to  ask  him  whether  he  could  add  a  column  of 
figures  twice  and  get  the  same  answer  both  times, 
or  name  the  principal  rivers  of  New  England,  or 
even  spell  his  native  tongue  correctly.  Once  ad- 
mitted to  the  college,  he  spent  little  time  in  the 
formal  study  of  Latin  but  he  practite<l  its  daily 
use  in  the  classroom  and  in  private  conversa- 
tion. Latin  was  the  key  to  knowledge,  and  the 
storehouse  of  wisdom  was  the  college. 

A  somewhat  varied  mental  diet  was  set  before 
the  student,  but  he  was  compelled  to  partake  of 
whatever  was  given  him.  No  broad  elective  sys- 
tem of  studies  d  la  carte  had  yet  been  devised.  The 
college  youth  of  those  days  studied  the  Bible 
throughout  his  course  and,  for  a  year,  "  catecheti- 
cal divinity."  Mainly  that  he  might  be  able  to 
read  the  New  Testament  in  the  original  he  studied 
Greek,  and  that  he  might  be  able  to  read  the  Old 
Testament  he  took  a  year  of  Hebrew.  At  one  time 
Chaldee  and  Syriac  were  also  taught.   On  the  other 


I     : 


.  i 


60      AMI  RICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

huiid.  if  the  student  wished  to  learn  n  little  Frencli 
or  (iernmn,  lie  .  ould  get  nu  liel()  fronj  the  college. 
Logic,  ethics,  and  politics  were  each  studied  for 
two  years,  and  a  few  lectures  on  physics,  history, 
and  iKituny  were  sometimes  slipped  into  the  course. 
The  bachelor's  degn»e  vas  conferred  upon  every 
scholar  "able  to  read  the  originals  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament  into  the  Latin  tongue,  and  to  re- 
solve them  logically,"  provided  he  were  "of  Godly 
life  and  conversation."  For  the  master's  degree, 
the  bachelor  must  present  a  thesis  and  defend  it. 

In  addition  to  the  formal  defense  of  the  master's 
thesis,  a  number  of  "disputations"  were  intro- 
duced into  tht  college  course.    Sometimes  these 
dealt  with  such  profundities  of  metaphysics  as, 
"Is.  the  act  of  creation  eternal?"    Or  they  might 
involve  more  deUiled  theological  problems  such  as, 
"When  Balaam's  ass  spoke,  was  there  any  change 
in  its  organs?"    Anon  it  would  be  such  a  scientific 
question  as,  for  instance,  "Were  the  aborigines  of 
Americo  descended  from  Abraham?"    Occasion- 
ally one  strikes  much  more  modern  notes:    "Is  the 
voice  of  the  people  the  voice  of  God  ?  "    "  Is  it  law- 
ful to  sell  Africans?"  or,  to  choose  an  example  from 
disputations  at  Yale,  "Whether  the  Latin  and 
Greek  languages  are  studied  too  much  in  America." 


THE  (  OIX)NIAL  COLLEGE 


51 


In  the  seventeenth  century,  when  Harvanl  waa 
practically  n  Con^regattional  theological  senjinary, 
this  exerci.se  in  forensics  was  excellent  training  for 
the  practice  of  the  ministry,  and  a  century  later, 
when  law  and  [Htlitics  ranie  to  the  fore,  the  same 
type  of  disputations  brought  out  any  talent  for 
orator>'  that  might  be  lurking  in  the  young  colle- 
gian. Cotton  Mather,  who  was  admitted  to  Har- 
vard College  at  the  iige  of  twelve,  writes  of  his 
studies  there: 

I  composed  Systems  both  of  Lngick  and  Phy.tick,  in 
Caiaehisma  of  my  own,  which  have  hci-n  since  iim  d  by 
many  others.  \  went  over  the  use  of  Globes  an!  pro- 
ceeded in  Arithmetic  as  fur  as  was  ordinary.  I  nr de 
Theses  and  Antitheses  upon  the  main  Questioihs  thai 
lay  before  me.  For  my  Declamations  I  ordinarily  tiH>k 
some  Article  of  Natural  Philosophy  for  my  subject,  by 
which  contrivances  I  did  Kill  two  birds  with  one  Stone. 
Hundreds  of  books  I  read  over,  and  I  kept  a  Diary  of 
my  studies.  My  fum  I  would  not  have  mentioned  these 
things,  but  that  I  may  provoke  your  emulation. 

The  more  important  of  the  early  colleges  add  an 
interesting  chapter  to  the  story  of  the  rise  of  mod- 
em American  education.  The  first  head  of  Har- 
vard, Nathaniel  Eaton,  had  a  career  that  was  brief 
and  inglorious.  In  these  days  of  committees  on 
academic  discipline,  it  is  interesting  to  read  that 


J 


n^asa 


M 


ll 


11 


li 


.0 


i 


Sa     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
he  was  finally  removed  from  office  for  beating  a 
boy  too  severely.    By  the  laws  of  the  college,  mis- 
conduct might  be  punished  as  in  the  common 
school :    "  If  any  scholar  shall  transgress  any  of  the 
laws  of  God,  or  the  House  .  .  .  after  twice  ad- 
monition,  he  shall  be  liable,  if  not  adultus,  to  cor- 
rection; if  adultus,  his  name  shall  be  given  up  to 
the  Overseers  of  the  College."   But  Eaton  exceeded 
his  privilege  in  this  respect.    What  was  worse,  he 
and  his  wife  neglected  the  material  welfare  of  the 
students,  who  had  to  make  their  own  beds  or  clean 
their  own  rooms  if  the  work  were  to  be  done  at  all. 
and  "their  diet  was  ordinarily  nothing  but  porridge 
and  pudding,  and  that  very  homely."    Complaints 
against  the  "commons"  have  been  frequent  in 
most  colleges  but  rarely  with  better  justification 
than  during  the  early  days  of  Harvard. 

Better  days  came  when  Henry  Dunster  took 
charge  of  Harvard  in  1640,  with  the  title  of  Presi- 
dent. He  was  a  vigorous  and  capable  executive, 
whose  energy  placed  the  college  for  the  first  time 
on  a  secure  and  permanent  basis.  But  he  fell  into 
the  heresy  of  "antipeedobaptism,"  and  Puritan 
Massachusetts  —  which  did  not  tolerate  the  Bap- 
tists, as  Roger  Williams  found  to  his  cost  —  put 
President  Dunster  out  of  his  position.    The  one 


THE  COLONIAL  COLLEGE 


5S 


concession  grunted  to  him  on  his  dismissal  was 
that  he  might  be  allowed  to  remain  in  the  Presi- 
dent's house  until  the  winter  was  over.  After  his 
time  Harvard  became  such  a  battleground  for 
theologians  that  it  soon  became  difficult  to  find  an 
able  man  to  take  the  presidency.  Orthodox  Cal- 
vinism found  a  strong  champion  in  President 
Increase  Mather,  and  Liberalism  one  in  President 
John  Leverett.  The  latter  was  bitterly  attacked 
by  Cotton  Mather,  the  son  of  Increase  Mather  and 
himself  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  the  presi- 
dency of  the  college.  He  complained  that  pious 
youths  who  went  to  Harvard  graduated  as  sceptics 
and  heretics,  that  the  students  filled  their  rooms 
"with  books  which  may  be  truly  called  Satan's 
library,"  and  he  demanded  an  inquiry  "whether 
the  books  mostly  read  among  them  are  not  plays, 
novels,  empty  and  vicious  pieces  of  poetry." 

The  suspicion  of  too  lax  theology  which  thus 
early  attached  itself  to  Harvard  College  was  one 
cause  for  the  establishment  of  Yale,  the  third 
college  to  be  founded  in  the  English  colonies,  and 
the  first  American  instance  of  academic  parent- 
hood. Harvard  had  been  founded  by  men  edu- 
cated in  England,  but  Yale  was  the  work  of  grad- 
uates of  Harvard.    It  is  perhaps  remarkable  that. 


h, 

>-.\i 


IVM! 


1 

It 


54  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
considering  the  jealousies  of  different  colonies  and 
churches,  Harvard  remained  for  some  two  genera- 
tions without  a  rival.  Poverty,  the  French,  and 
the  Indians  seem  to  have  been  the  three  leading 
causes  for  the  educational  monopoly  so  long  en- 
joyed by  the  Massachusetts  college. 

In  1701  several  devout  Congregational  ministers 
gave  generously  of  their  scanty  hoard  of  books  to- 
wards the  foundation  of  a  college  in  Connecticut, 
rightly  thinking  that  the  way  to  begin  a  college 
was  with  a  library.  During  the  same  year  the 
General  Assembly  authorized  the  erection  of  a 
"collegiate  school"  to  fit  students  for  "Publiek 
employment  both  in  Church  and  Civil  State,"  thus 
striking  from  the  very  beginning  that  note  of  state- 
craft and  public  service  which  has  ever  since  been 
the  dominant  ideal  of  Yale. 

For  several  years,  however,  Yale  College  lacked 
both  a  permanent  local  habitation  and  a  name. 
For  fifteen  years  the  college  was  located  at  Say- 
brook,  but  the  actual  teaching  was  frequently 
done  elsewhere.  In  1717  a  permanent  home,  the 
"College  House,"  was  begun  in  New  Haven,  and 
the  following  year  it  received  the  name  of  Yale 
College  after  Elihu  Yale,  one  of  its  earliest  and 
most  munificent  benefactors. 


i^^sKnsBBafsti . 


i 


THE  COLONIAL  COLLEGE  55 

Elihu  Yale  was  u  child  of  Boston,  though  for  the 
greater  part  of  his  active  career  he  was  in  the  In- 
dian civil  service  and  finally  rose  to  be  Governor  of 
Fort  St.  George  at  Madras.  But  he  always  re- 
tained an  interest  in  the  distant  land  of  his  birth 
and  was  easily  persuaded  to  give  books  and  money 
to  the  struggling  little  college  at  New  Haven. 

Another  benefactor  of  Yale  who  deserves  to  be 
mentioned  in  this  connection  was  Bishop  George 
Berkeley,  the  English  philosopher,  whose  cher- 
ished dream  it  had  been  to  found  a  college  in  the 
New  World.  His  first  thought  was  to  establish 
one  in  the  Bermudas  but,  unable  to  realize  this 
plan,  he  wisely  turned  to  Yale  instead.  He  gave 
his  Rhode  Island  farm,  still  known  as  the  Dean's 
farm,  to  the  college  and  also  presented  it  with 
a  carefully  selected  library  of  nearly  a  thousand 
volumes.  The  roll  of  the  Berkeleyan  scholarship 
which  he  founded  bears  the  names  of  twelve  college 
presidents.  His  name  is  further  commemorated 
in  the  seat  of  a  still  larger  institution  on  the  other 
side  of  the  continent,  the  University  of  California. 

With  the  foundation  of  Harvard  and  Yale  the 
needs  of  the  Congregationalists  were  met.  Those 
who  considered  Harvard  too  liberal  could  obtain  a 
purer  Calvinism  from  the  sister  college.    But  other 


I 
i 


«; 


4   * 
f". 


i?r 


J 


'JbviSETai'SSBfiV  . 


'}' 


HH 


56     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
denominations  were  growing  to  importance  and 
were  demanding  educational  opportunities.    The 
needs  of  the  Presbyterian  community  were  met  by 
the  organization  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey  at 
Princeton ;  the  Dutch  Reformed  could  go  to  Queens, 
now  Rutgers;  tho  Anglicans  had  King's,  now  Col- 
umbia, and  the  Baptists,   Brown.     During  the 
eighteenth  century  an  increasing  number  of  young 
men  went  to  college  who  had  no  thoughts  of  enter- 
ing the  ministry,  and  they  were  usually  made 
welcome  regardless  of  any  niceties  of  creed.    In 
the  charter  of  Brown  University,  for  example, 
there  was  this  provision:  "Into  this  Liberal  & 
Catholic  Institution  shall  never  be  admitted  any 
Religious  Tests  but  on  the  Contrary  all  the  Mem- 
bers hereof  shall  for  ever  enjoy  full  free  Absolute 
and  uninterrupted  Liberty  of  Conscience. ' '    Words 
could  hardly  be  more  emphatic,  and  the  liberal 
intention   of  the   Baptist   founders    was  further 
demonstrated  by  another  provision  giving  a  cer- 
tain number  of  Congregationalists,  Presbyterians, 
Quakers,  and  Episcopalians  places  on  the  Board 
of  Trustees.     Yet  the  rules  of  Brown  forbade  any 
student  to  assert  his  disbelief  in  Christianity,  ex- 
cept "Young  Gentlemen  of  the  Hebrew  Nation." 
Of  all  the  colonial  colleges  the  nearest  to  a  complete 


THE  COLONIAL  COLLEGE  57 

independence  of  denominational  influences  was 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  which  was  foun«i#Hj 
in  the  middle  of  the  century. 

The  eigliteenth  century  witnessed  not  only  a  re- 
laxation of  strict  doctrinal  requirenu-nts  in  thr  col- 
leges but  the  introduction  of  a  broader  curriculum. 
Hebrew  took  a  minor  place  in  the  course  of  study, 
and  more  emphasis  was  placed  upon  th<  purely 
literary  side  of  Greek  an<l  Latin.  More  attention 
began  to  be  paid  to  niathcnialit-s  and  the  sciences, 
and  every  college  did  its  hcsl  to  obtain  a  few  phy.-^i- 
cal  and  astronomical  instruments  with  whi^-h  to 
demonstrate  to  the  pupils  the  wond^Ts  of  nature 
and  to  the  parents  the  fact  that  th»^  institutKjn 
was  awake  to  the  spirit  of  the  times  Nothing 
could  be  more  significant  than  these  words  from 
the  prospectus  issued  in  1754  b>'  Samuel  John- 
son, the  first  President  of  King's  College,  now 
Columbia  University: 

And  lastly,  a  serious,  virtuous,  and  industrious  Course 
of  Life  being  Prst  provitlcd  for,  it  is  further  the  Design 
of  this  College  to  instruct  and  perfect  the  Youth  in  the 
Learned  Languages,  and  in  the  Arts  of  reasoning  ex- 
actly, of  ifri</«(/ correctly, and  .vpeaA-j'/fj eloquently;  and 
in  the  Arts  of  numbering  and  measuring ;  of  Surveying 
and  \avigation,  of  Geography  and  History,  of  Husban- 
dry, Commerce  and  Government,  and  in  the  Knowledge 


i 


lU" 


IHH 


58     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

of  all  Nature  in  the  Heavens  above  us.  and  in  the  Air, 
Water  and  Earth  around  us,  and  the  various  kinds 
of  Meteors,  Stones,  Mines  and  Minerals,  Plants  and 
AnimaU,  and  of  every  Thing  useful  for  the  Comfort, 
the  Convenience  and  the  Elegance  of  Life,  in  the  chief 
Manufactures  relating  to  any  of  these  Things:  And, 
finally,  to  lead  thera  from  the  Study  of  Nature  to  the 
Knowledge  of  themselves,  and  of  the  God  of  Nature, 
and  their  Duty  to  Him.  themselves,  and  one  another, 
and  every  Thing  that  can  contribute  to  their  true 
Happiness,  both  here  and  hereafter. 

It  may,  indeed,  be  fairly  questioned  whether  King's 
College  or  any  other  college  of  the  time  could  even 
approximate  the  realization  of  such  a  comprehen- 
sive ideal  as  this.  But  it  is  certain  that  no  college 
or  university  since  then  has  advanced  beyond  it, 
and  it  is  equally  certam  that  by  the  time  of  the 
Revolution  all  the  American  colleges  were  more  or 
less  actuated  by  a  belief  that  education  should 
include  more  than  piety  and  grammar. 

The  last  thing  to  be  modernized  in  the  American 
college  was  its  discipline.  The  rod  was,  indeed, 
finally  expelled  from  the  higher  institutions  of 
learning.  But  the  undergraduate  was  bound  to  a 
fixed  routine  of  life  by  a  double  system  of  laws, 
those  of  the  college  and  those  of  the  campus.  The 
college  aulliorities  saw  to  it  that  the  student  arose 


m 


THE  COLONIAL  COLLEGE  .'.0 

betimes,  usually  at  six  o'clock,  that  ht>  missed  no 
lectures  or  recitations,  that  he  kept  regular  hours 
of  study,  that  he  shunned  all  bad  habits,  and  that 
on  all  occasions  he  showed  due  courtesy  and 
subordination  to  his  superiors.  In  Harvard,  for 
example,  it  was  ordered  that 

No  scholar  shall  take  tobacco,  unless  permitted  by  the 
President,  with  the  consent  of  their  pairents  and  guar- 
dians, and  on  good  reason  first  given  by  u  physician, 
and  then  in  a  sober  and  private  manner. 

To  see  that  such  rules  were  kept,  the  student  was 
deprived  of  the  right  of  privacy.  A  rather  amus- 
ing regulation  at  Brown  reveals  the  existence  of  a 
system  of  "domiciliary  visits"  which  today  would 
be  thought  to  verge  on  the  intrusive: 

No  student  shall  refuse  to  oiien  the  duor  when  he  shall 
hear  the  stamp  of  the  foot  or  staff  at  his  dour  in  the  en- 
try, which  shall  be  a  token  that  an  o/Ecer  uf  instruction 
desires  admission,  which  token  every  student  is  forbid 
to  counterfeit,  or  imitate  under  any  preten.<w  whatever. 

And  were  these  students  too  docile  to  require  such 
rigid  discipline  or  might  the  officer  of  instruction 
who  banged  on  the  floor  outside  the  study  expect 
to  find  some  mischief  within?  To  tell  the  Iruth, 
the  colonial  undergraduate  at  certain  times  and 
places  was  more  unruly  than  his  counterpart  of  the 


I 


m 


ffn( 


tl 


60     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
present  day.    I^t  Philip  Fithian  relate  from  a  page 
of  his  diary  for  1770  how  things  then  went  in  the 
good  Presbyterian  College  of  New  Jersi-y.    Among 
the  amusements  he  specifies  are: 

Strewing  the  entries  in  the  Night  with  greasy  Feathers; 
freezing  the  Bell;  Ringing  it  ut  late  Hours  of  the  Night 
.  .  .  writing  witty  pointed  anonymous  Papers 
Picking  from  the  neighborhood  now  and  then  a  plump 
fat  Hen  or  Turkey  .  .  .  Darting  Sunbeams  upon  the 
Town-People,  Reconoitering  Houses  in  the  Town,  & 
ogling  \yomen  wilh  a  Telescope  —  Making  Squibs,  & 
other  frightful  compositions  with  Gunpowder.  &  light- 
ing them  in  the  liooms  of  timorous  Boys  8i  new  comers. 

Yet  in  the  same  college  of  which  Mr.  Fithian  tells 
such  mischievous  deeds  and  at  the  same  period, 
the  faculty,  ever  solicitous  for  the  good  conduct  of 
the  students  in  their  charge,  prohibited  the  game 
of  shinny  because  it  sometimes  resulted  in  acci- 
dents and  because  then'  were  "many  amusements 
both  more  honorable  and  more  useful  in  which 
they  are  indulged." 

An  interesting  glimpse  of  student  life  in  those 
distant  college  days  is  given  in  the  following  letter: 

Written  at  Princeton,  Jan,  13,  Anno  177^. 
Very  Dear,  &  Mum  Respected  Fatuer, 

Through  the  distinRuished  Kindness  of  Heaven,  I 
am  in  good  Health,  &  have  nmch  Cause  to  be  delighted 


THK  COLONIAL  COLLEGE 


61 


with  my  Lot.  I  would  not  change  my  Condition  nor 
give  up  the  Prospect  I  have  before  me,  on  any  Terms 
almost  whatever. 

I  am  not  much  hurried  this  Winter  with  my  Studies; 
but  I  am  trying  to  advance  myself  in  an  Acquaintance 
with  my  fellow-Creatures,  &  with  the  Lalwiurs  of  the 
"Mighty  Dead." 

I  am  sorry  that  I  may  inform  you,  that  two  of  our 
Members  wereexpe'.led  from  the  College  yesterday;  not 
for  Drunkenness,  nor  Fighting,  not  for  Swearing,  nor 
Sabbath-Breaking.  But.  they  were  sent  from  this  Sem- 
inary, where  the  greatest  Pains  and  Cure  are  taken  to 
cultivate  and  encourage  Decency.  &  Honesty,  &  Honour, 
for  stealing  Henx!  Shameful,  mean,  unmanly  Conduct! 

If  a  Person  wore  to  judge  of  the  generality  of  Stu- 
dents, by  the  Conduct  of  such  earth-born,  insatiate 
Helluo's;  or  by  the  detested  Character  of  wicked  In- 
dividuals, (which  is  generally  soonest  &  most  exten- 
sively propai?ated  &  known  abroad,)  how  terrible  an 
Idea  must  ho  have! 

Please  to  remember  my  kind  Regards  to  my 
Brothers;  Sister  Becka  «t-  the  whole  Family.  I  feel 
my  Heart  warm  with  Esteem  for  them !  but  can  only 
further,  at  present,  write  myself,  dear  Father,  Yours, 

P.    FlTHlAN 


t> 


It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  organized 
athletics  had  little  place  in  the  colonial  college 
compared  with  their  vogue  in  the  modern  Ameri- 
can college  and  university.  Even  as  ncently 
as   the    Civil    War   an    Engli.sh    observer,   while 


ffl 


M      AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

greatly  praising  the  earnrxt  zeal  of  the  American 
undergraduate  in  his  studieM,  had  this  to  say: 

The  utmost  physical  reereation  seemed  to  consist  in  h 
couniry  walk,  ami  I  doubt  if  even  this  was  com- 
mon. This  absence  of  desire  fop  physical  8(K)rts  seems 
more  or  less  coiiunon  throughout  Aitipric-a.  and  is 
very  strange  in  tlu*  .yes  of  those  accustomed  to  the  ex- 
hibition of  animal  spirits  iu  the  Knglish  youth  of 
both  sexes.  ■ 

But  the  current  of  youthful  ciierffy  whi.  h  Has  for- 
bidden to  flow  freely  in  the  path  of  athletics  found 
its  outlets  cl.sewhere,  and  not  only  in  ini.Hccllanc- 
ous  mischief  such  as  shocked  the  young  Fithian. 
There  were  no  Greek  letter  .smictics  until  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  was  organized  in  177(5.  but  rival  literary 
societies  with  long  Greek  names  served  equally 
well  as  centers  of  social  life  and  generators  of  clan 
loyalty.      Ritual   functions   accumulated   around 
commencement  and  other  college  anniversaries. 
Special  lo^al  customs,  such  as  the  burning  of  Euclid 
at  the  end  of  a  mathematical  course,  took  root  and 
spread,  and  even  before  the  advent  of  college  jour- 
nalism the  poet  and  the  satirist  found  opportunity 
to  make  known  their  talent  to  the  campus. 

'Sophia  .Fpx  Blukc   .1    J'miV  to  Some  American   Schonh    and 
Colleges  {18«7).  p.  33. 


THE  COLONIAL  COLLEGE  83 

However  greatly  tlie  .itudent  may  have  resented 
the  paternal  oversight  of  his  conduct  which  custom 
then  required  of  the  faculty,  he  submitted  willingly 
to  the  no  less  exacting  informal  discipline  imposed 
upon  him  by  his  older  fellows,  hoping  perhaps  to 
become  a  dexpot  in  hin  turn.  The  Freshman  rules 
of  today  are  but  a  survival  of  the  iron  code  preva- 
lent in  colonial  times.  The  English  fagging  system 
still  obtained;  Freshmen  were  compelled  to  perform 
"all  reasonable  errands  for  any  .superior,"  n.s  the 
Yale  rules  of  1764  put  it.  To  quote  further  from 
the  Yale  code,  "A  Senior  may  take  h  Freshman 
from  a  Sophomore,  a  Bachelor  from  a  Junior,  and 
a  Master  from  a  Senior."  The  Freshman  must 
stand  aside  for  upperclassmen  at  entrances  or 
on  stairways,  must  refrain  from  such  boisterous 
conduct  as  running  in  the  college  yard  or  calling 
from  a  window,  and  must  not  sit  in  the  presence 
of  an  uppercla.ssman  or  other  superior  without 
special  permission. 

These  questions  of  college  life  are  not  so  remote 
from  the  main  purpose  of  education  a.s  they  may 
seem.  Just  as  the  instructor  made  correctness  and 
propriety  of  expression  the  aim  of  literary  teaching 
«tnd  discouraged  the  original  if  it  were  also  the  un- 
conventional, and  just  as  the  college  President  and 


Miatocorv  risoiution  test  chart 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


1.0 

u 

1.1 

2.2 
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1.8 


^  APPLIED  IIVMGE    I 

SS"-  '653  East   Main   Street 

Z^S  Rochester.   Ne»   York        14609       USA 

■^S  (716)   482 -0300  -  Plione 

^B  (^'6)   288  -  5989  -  Fax 


Ill 


h;i 


I 


64     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

his  assistants  made  the  faith  and  morals  of  their 
charges  their  chief  concern,  so  did  the  student  body 
accept  and  impose  its  own  discipline  to  curb  the 
eccentric  or  nonconformist  Freshman.    Individu- 
ality, in  a  word,  was  taken  for  granted,  but  it 
was  something  to  be  restrained  rather  than  fos- 
tered.   Perhaps  this  was  a  wise  course  in  a  frontier 
commonwealth;  perhaps  this  type  of  disciplinary 
education  was  necessary  to  give  social  cohesion  to 
the  young  republic  whose  leaders  and  founders 
were  trained  by  the  colonial  college.    Ai,  all  events, 
the  education  provided  was,  as  far  as  it  went,  no 
sham.     College  was  no  excuse  for  idling,  as  too 
commonly  was  the  case  in  eighteenth  century 
Oxford  and  Cambridge.    The  American  student 
obtained   his   degree  only   by   hard   intellectual 
work  and,  not  infrequently,  he  remained  in  college 
only  by  supporting  himself  there  by  hard  work 
of  another  kind.     America  had  yet  to  create  a 
leisure  class. 


J      ! 


I       f 


li' 


CHAPTER  V 

FRANKLIN   AND    PRACTICAL   EbJCATION 

Franklin's  is  the  weightiest  voice  that  has  as  yet  sounded  from 
across  the  Atlantic.  —  Matthew  Arnold. 


Franklin's  name  is  likely  to  occur  in  the  first 
paragraphs  of  any  history  of  American  activities, 
whether  the  subject  be  diplomacy  or  printing,  elec- 
tricity or  finance,  literature  or  ventilation,  religion 
or  soap-making.  Certainly  it  would  be  impossible 
to  write  of  American  education  without  mention 
of  the  various  projects  that  originated  in  his  ver- 
satile and  ingenious  mind.  Franklin  was  self- 
educated.  His  theory  and  practice  of  mental  and 
moral  education  are  given  in  his  Autobiography. 
Franklin  was  sent  to  the  Boston  Grammar  School 
when  he  was  eight  but  was  soon  withdrawn  for,  as 
the  youngest  son  of  sevtnteen  childien,  he  was 
needed  by  his  father  to  assist  in  molding  tallow 
candles.  At  the  age  of  twelve  he  was  apprenticed 
to  a  brother  who  was  a  printer  and  thus  was  started 

S  65 


';( 


li'i 


''( 


III 


il: 


I      >       i 

i     ; 


66     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
upon  the  path,  since  followed  by  many  Americans, 
that  leads  through  journalism  to  statesmanship. 
Giving  his  nights  to  the  study  of  Addison  —  by 
means  of  an  odd  volume  of  the  Spectator  purloined 
from  a  bookseller  —  he  taught  himself  a  style  quite 
un-Addisonian,  a  terse,  brisk,  businesslike,  plain, 
matter-of-fact  style  that  has  s.nce  become  charac- 
teristic of  American  newspapers.    The  lucidity  of 
his  papers  on  electricity  is  in  marked  contrast  with 
the  bombastic  and  obscure  style  of  contemporary 
savants.     He  even  ventured  to  carry  his  clarity 
into  the  realms  of  diplomacy  and   philosophy, 
where  it  was  still  more  of  an  innovation. 

His  theory  of  conduct  he  was  not  afraid  to  put 
to  the  pragmatic  test  —  and  it  worked.  Entering 
Philadelphia  as  a  runaway  apprentice  at  the  age  of 
seventeen,  penniless  and  ragged  .j  was  able,  by 
the  practice  of  the  thrift  and  vigilance  that  he 
preached,  to  retire  with  a  competency  at  the  age 
of  forty-two  in  order  to  devote  himself  to  re- 
searches in  electricity,  though  the  calls  of  pub- 
lic service  kept  him  busy  throughout  his  long 
life.  He  found  Philadelphia  behind  Boston  in 
two  respects,  "there  being  no  provision  for  de- 
fense nor  for  a  compleat  education  of  youth;  no 
militia  nor  any  college."    He  promptly  set  about 


I  ^ 


r 


FRA>fKLIN  AND  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION  67 

remedying  both  defects  and  in  the  course  of  time 
was  successful. 

His  first  step  in  the  way  of  cooperative  effort  was 
the  formation  of  the  Junto,  a  sort  of  fraternity  or 
debating  society,  somewhat  after  the  plau  of  the 
Benefit  Societies  that  Cotton  Mather  had  started 
in  the  Congregational  churches  of  Massachusetts. 
The  dozen  young  men  who  composed  it  met  every 
Friday  evening  to  discuss  political,  scientific,  and 
moral  questions,  and  to  consider  ways  of  helping 
one  another  and  the  community.    This  may  be 
regarded  as  the  precursor  of  the  American  lyceum 
which  was  to  exercise  so  powerful  an  influence  over 
the  thought  and  politics  of  the  nation  in  the  cen- 
tury to  come.     Each  member  of  the  Junto,  at 
Franklin's  suggestion,  agreed  to  put  the  few  books 
he  owned  into  a  room  where  they  could  be  used  in 
common.    He  next  obtained  subscriptions  from 
fifty  persons  and  was  able  to  send  off  to  London  an 
order  for  £45  worth  of  books.    In  this  way  a  per- 
manent circulating  library  was  opened,  with  Frank- 
lin as  librarian  to  give  out  the  books  once  a  week. 
To  the  Junto  we  therefore  owe  the  origin  of  the 
public  library  system  which  in  America  has  at- 
tained proportions  unequaled  anywhere  else  in  the 
world.     As  Franklin  says: 


|.!. 


68     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 


j' ' 


II  i 


This  was  the  mother  of  all  the  North  American  sub' 
scription  libraries,  now  so  numerous.  It  is  become  a 
great  thing  in  itself  and  continually  increasing.  These 
libraries  have  improved  the  general  conversation 
of  the  Americans,  made  the  common  trades  men  and 
farmers  as  intelligent  as  most  gentlemen  from  other 
countries,  and  perhaps  have  contributed  in  some 
degree  to  the  stand  so  generally  made  throughout  the 
colonies  in  defense  of  their  privileges. 

To  estimate  the  value  or  trace  the  influence  of 
the  library  movement  started  by  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin is  impossible  here,  but  one  of  its  many  radia- 
tions is  of  educational  interest.  Franklin's  popu- 
larity made  him  the  godfather  to  seventy-two 
towns,  and  from  one  of  the  earliest  —  a  Massa- 
chusetts town  —  came  in  1784  the  announcement 
that  it  had  taken  the  name  of  Franklin  and  the 
suggestion  that  he  present  it  with  a  church  bell. 
Franklin  replied  that,  "sense  being  preferable  to 
sound,"  he  would  give  them  a  town  library  instead, 
and  so  he  sent  them  sixty-eight  works  "such  as  are 
most  proper  to  inculcate  the  principles  of  sound 
religion  and  just  government."  In  this  same  little 
town  of  Franklin,  Massachusetts,  there  was  born 
a  dozen  years  later  a  boy  by  the  name  of  Horace 
Mann.  He  was  educated,  as  he  says  himself,  in 
"the  smallest  school  in  the  poorest  schoolhouse 


B'RANKLIN  AND  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION  69 

with  the  cheapest  teachers  in  the  State,"  but  he 
had  access  to  one  avenue  leading  to  the  work!  of 
letters,  the  library  that  Franklin  had  given  to  the 
town  in  lieu  of  a  bell.  Horace  Mann,  thus  rescued 
from  ignorance,  became  in  time  the  promoter  of 
the  American  public  school  for  Massachusetts  and 
for  the  nation.  He  used  to  say  that  he  would  like 
to  scatter  libraries  broadcast  over  the  land  as  a 
farmer  sows  his  wheat,  and  this  dream  of  his  has 
been  realized  today  bj  Andrew  Carnegie. 

Franklin's  plans  for  an  Academy  at  Philadelphia 
are  contained  in  the  Proposals  Relating  to  the  Edu- 
cation of  Youth  in  Fensilvania  which  he  drew  up  in 
1749  and  later  printed  in  pamphlet  form.    This 
aged  and  neglected  document  reads  like  the  pros- 
pectus of  some  "  modem  school "  desired  by  Charles 
W.  Eliot  and  Abraham  Flexner,  or  one  of  the 
"schools  of  tomorrow"  described  by  John  Dewey. 
It  is  based  upon  a  psychology  of  learning  whose 
principles  have  only  recently  come  into  recognition 
—  that  learning  comes  by  doing,  that  the  concrete 
should  precede  the  abstract,  that  individual  abili- 
ties and  vocational  aims  should  be  early  recognized, 
and  that  the  time  to  take  up  a  particular  study  is 
when  the  desire  for  it  has  been  awakened. 
History,  for  instance,  which  occupies  a  large 


ii 


I-  1 


I)  ; 


70     AiAlERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

place  in  Franklin's  scheme,  he  would  have  taught 
by  the  extensive  reading  of  translations  of  the 
Greek  and  Roman  historians,  with  the  use  of  maps 
and  prints  of  medals  and  monuments,  "followed 
by  the  best  modern  histories,  particularly  of  our 
mother  country,  then  of  these  colonies."  It  is 
universal  and  comparative  history  that  he  wants, 
with  special  reference  to  customs,  politics,  religion, 
natural  resources,  commerce,  and  the  growth  of 
science.  History,  thus  properly  taught,  would 
naturally  lead  to  the  study  of  ethics,  iogic,  physics, 
oratory,  debating,  and  journalism.  A  few  passages 
will  show  what  Franklin  had  in  mind: 

History  will  show  the  wonderful  effects  of  oratory  in 
governing,  turning  and  leading  great  bodies  of  man- 
kind, armies,  cities,  nations.  When  the  minds  of 
youth  are  struck  with  admiration  at  this,  then  is  the 
time  to  give  them  the  principles  of  that  art,  which  they 
will  study  with  taste  and  application.  Then  they  may 
be  made  acquainted  with  the  best  models  among  the 
ancients,  their  beauties  being  particularly  pointed  out 
to  them.  Modern  political  oratory  being  chiefly  per- 
formed by  pen  and  press,  its  advantages  over  the  an- 
cients in  some  respects  are  to  be  shown;  as  that  its 
effects  are  more  extensive,  more  lasting,  etc.  .  .  . 

On  historical  occasions,  questions  of  right  and  wrong, 
justice  and  injustice,  will  naturally  arise,  and  may  be 
put  to  youth,  which  they  may  debate  in  conversation 


\\i 


FRANKLIN  AND  PRACTICAi      DUCATION  71 

and  in  writing.  When  they  ardently  desire  victory,  for 
the  sake  of  the  praise  attending  it.  they  will  begin  to  feel 
the  want,  and  be  sensible  of  the  use  of  logic,  or  the  art  of 
reasoning  to  discover  truth,  end  of  arguing  to  defend  it 
and  convince  adversaries.  Thia  would  be  the  time  to  ac- 
quaint them  with  the  principles  of  that  art.  .  .  . 

The  history  of  commerce,  of  the  invention  of  arts, 
nse  of  manufacture,  progress  of  trade,  change  of  its 
seats,  with  the  reasons,  causes,  etc.,  may  also  be  made 
entertaining  to  youth  and  will  be  useful  to  all.  And 
this,  with  the  accounts  in  other  history  of  the  prodi- 
gious force  and  effect  of  engines  and  machines  used  in 
war  wUl  naturaUy  introduce  a  desire  to  be  instructed  in 
mechanics  and  to  be  informed  of  the  principles  of  that 
art  by  which  weak  men  perform  such  wonders,  labor 
is  saved,  manufactures  expedited,  etc.  This  wUl  be  the 
time  to  show  them  prints  of  ancient  and  modem  ma- 
chines, to  explain  them  and  let  them  be  copied,  and  to 
give  lectures  in  mechanical  philosophy. 

Certain  words  have  been  italicized  in  the  passage 
just  quoted  to  show  how  clearly  Franklin  had  con- 
ceived of  the  Herbartian  principle  of  the  necessity 
•>!  an  "apperceptive  basis"  for  the  reception  of 
owledge  nearly  a  hundred  years  before  Herbart 
came  known,  and  also  that  he  advocated  the 
"case-method"  of  teaching  ethics  now  brought 
forward  as  a  novelty. 

All  intended  for  divinity  should  be  taught  the  Latin 
and  Greek;  for  physic  [medical  students]  the  Latin, 


!! 


|;i^ 


ii 


ii 


74     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

Greek  and  French;  for  law,  the  I^tin  and  French; 
merchants,  the  French.  German  and  Spanish;  and 
thouRh  all  should  not  Im>  compelled  to  learn  Latin. 
Greek  or  the  modern  foreign  languages,  yet  none  that 
have  an  ardent  desire  to  learn  them  shoi  1  be  refused , 
their  English,  arithmetic  and  other  studies  absolutely 
necessary,  being  at  the  same  time  not  neglected. 


ili 


I  > 


Franklin  had  acquired  by  his  own  exertions  a  prac- 
tical acquaintance  with  French,  Spanish,  and  Ital- 
ian, and  then  had  found  T.atin  easier  than  he  ex- 
pected. From  this  experience  he  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  would  be  better  for  any  student  to 
begm  with  the  modern  languages  and  then  proceed 
to  the  ancient.  If  circumstances  then  prevented 
him  from  studying  the  ancient,  he  would  be  sure 
at  least  of  having  the  more  useful  modern  lan- 
guages. Franklin  pointed  out  that  Latin  and 
Greek  were  put  into  the  European  schools  for  utili- 
tarian purposes,  because  all  the  science,  law,  and 
theology  of  an  earlier  day  were  to  be  obtained  only 
in  these  languages,  but,  he  said,  they  h.ive  be- 
come "the  chapeau  bras  of  modern  literature" 
—  the  fashionable  hat  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, once  useful  but  now  degenerated  to  a  mere 
honorific  appendage. 
As   Franklin   attempted  nothing  less   than  a 


FRANKLIN  AND  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION  W 

change  of  the  center  of  gravity  from  Latin  to  Eng- 
lish, it  is  not  to  bo  wondered  at  that  such  heretical 
ideas  failed  of  acceptance  by  his  generation.  He 
got  the  money  for  his  projected  Academy,  with 
English  nominally  recognized  as  a  language  eciiial 
to  Latin,  bu  oy  has  so  often  happened,  tlie  "mod- 
ern side"  was  starved  out  while  the  Latin  school 
was  fostered  in  spite  of  Franklin's  protest  against 
such  a  misapplication  of  funds. 

The  institution  thus  started,  however,  developed 
into  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  of  which 
Franklin  was  for  forty  years  a  trustee  and  which 
he  could  now  commend  for  carrying  out  many  of 
his  ideas.     The  University  of  Pennsylvania  was 
from  the  start  free  from  the  sectarian  influences 
which  prevailed  in  other  colleges.  Here  was  opened 
in  1765  the  first  school  of  medicine  in  America. 
History,  politics,  and  economics,  which  formed 
the  core  of  Frankhn's  scheme  of  education,  have 
always  been  especially  prominent  in  this  institution. 
At  the  same  time  that  Franklin  was  urging  the 
este'     hment  of  an  Academy  he  launched  another 
mov  ^lent  of  almost  equal  importance.    His  Pro- 
posal for  Promoting  Useful  Knowledge  .hnong  the 
British  Plantations  in  America,  published  in  1743, 
called  for  a  society  to  be  formed  "of  virtuosi  or 


hi 


ll 


74     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

ingenious  ni<?n  residing  m  the  several  colonies,"  cor- 
responding to,  and  to  correspond  with,  the  Royal 
Society  of  London  and  the  Duolin  Society.  This 
proposal  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society,  of  which  Franklin  was  presi- 
dent until  his  death  in  1700.  In  the  Transact iona 
of  this  Society  many  of  the  chief  American  contri- 
butions to  science  have  appeared.  Here  are  to  be 
found  Franklin*8  paper  on  The  Cause  and  Cure  of 
Smoky  Chimneys^  in  which  he  anticipates  the 
modem  system  ^i  ventilation  and  house-heating; 
Priestley's  Experiments  and  Observations  on  differ- 
ent kinds  of  Air,  for  the  English  discoverer  of  oxy- 
gen had  been  mobbed  out  of  Birmingham  and  had 
taken  refuge  in  America,  where  he  aided  Franklin 
and  Jefferson  in  their  educational  reforms;  the  re- 
searches of  Draper  on  the  composition  of  the  sun* 
Joseph  Henry's  experiments  on  electro-magnetic 
induction;  and  the  palcontological  investigations  of 
Leidy,  C(  pe,  and  Hayden. 

An  institution,  says  Emerson,  is  but  the  length- 
ened shadow  of  a  great  man,  and  there  is  not 
space  enough  here  to  do  more  than  refer  to  some  of 
the  shadows  of  this  sort  which  Franklin  cast.  The 
excellent  manual  training  schools  of  Philadelphia; 
Gira- '    JoUege,  founded  through  the  bequest  of 


FRANKLIN  AND  PIUCTICAL  EDUCATION  75 
$4,000,000  by  Stephen  (iirurd  in  1H30  to  give  a 
practicil,  moral,  Hnil  patriotic  education  to  or- 
phans; the  Franklin  Institute,  founded  in  1824  for 
the  promotion  of  mi>chanic  arts;  the  so-called  Ger- 
man College  of  Lancaster.  Pennsylvania,  to  which 
Franklin  was  the  chief  cont'-ibutor  and  which  was 
later  named  after  him  —  these  are  but  some  of 
the  educational  establishments  that  he  instigated 
or  inspired. 

One  other  scheme  of  Franklin's  deserves  atten- 
tion, partly  because  it  is  characteristic  of  the  man, 
and  partly  •  cause  of  its  economic  interest.  His 
bequest  of  £1000  to  Boston  and  Philadelphia,  to  be 
lent  out  in  small  amounts  at  five  per  cnt  to  young 
married  artificers  for  the  purpose  of  setting  them 
up  in  business,  would,  he  calculated,  amount  to 
£131,000  by  the  end  of  a  century.  He  would  then 
have  £100,000  spent  on  objects  of  public  utility 
and  the  remaining  £31,000  again  put  o»  t  at  intt  est 
for  another  hundred  years,  by  the  t  of  which 
time  it  would  provide  £4,061, tUO  to  oe  spent  by 
the  city  and  State.  Franklin  « ems  to  have  also 
had  the  secondary  objec  of  illustrating  how  rapid- 
ly money  breeds  but,  as  it  turned  out,  the  bequest 
illustrated  rather  the  futility  of  attempting  to  an- 
ticipate in  detail  the  needs  of  the  distant  future. 


-_..-w 


1 


I  '- 


76     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

The  number  of  married  artificers  under  twenty- 
five  who  wanted  to  borrow  from  $65  to  $300  "for 
setting  up  their  business"  fell  off  in  the  course  of 
years  until,  in  1890,  the  Philadelphia  fund  reuched 
only  $86,280  instead  of  the  $655,000  which  Frank- 
lin had  calculated.  Of  the  Boston  fund,  after 
passing  through  the  inevitable  period  of  litigation, 
$400,000  was  available  in  1908.  This  amount  was 
doubled  by  Andrew  Carnegie,  and  with  it  there 
was  erected  the  Franklin  Union  for  evening  courses 
in  industrial  education. 

Franklin's  best  work  as  an  educator  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  was,  after  all,  not  accomplished  through 
these  various  institutions  but  directly  through  the 
medium  of  his  pamphlets,  newspapers,  and  al- 
manacs. Poor  Richard's  Almanack  was  the  only 
book  in  thousands  of  homesteads,  and  his  prover- 
bial philosophy  became  the  common  coin  of  con- 
versation froi"  vhich  his  image  and  superscription 
have  long  been  obliterated  through  constant  usage. 
Father  Abraham's  speech  at  the  vendue  on  how  to 
remedy  hard  times,  a  medley  of  Poor  Richard's 
sayings,  has  been  translated  into  all  languages  and 
reprinted  four  hundred  times. 

Franklin  was  as  much  o'  an  economist  as  a  man 
couid  be  before  the  science  of  economics  was  bom. 


FRANKLIN  AND  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION  77 

He  anticipated  Malthus  in  the  law  of  the  relation 
of  population  to  sustenance  and  Adam  Smith  in 
the  measure  of  value  by  the  labor  involved.  Frank- 
lin's experimental  proof  of  the  similar  nature  of 
lightning  and  the  Leyden  spark  was  a  scientific 
discovery  of  the  first  order,  and  his  "one-fluid" 
theory  of  electricity,  his  conception  of  positive  and 
negative  electrification,  has  not  only  served  as  a 
useful  hypothesis  ever  since  but  is  strikingly  in 
keeping  with  the  modern  electron  theory.  But 
Franklin  himself  did  not  get  so  much  gratification 
out  of  such  contributions  to  science  as  he  did  from 
the  thought  that  he  had  taught  some  millions  of 
people  such  homely  truths  as  these: 

He  that  goes  a-borrowing  goes  a-sorrowing. 

Experience  keeps  a  dear  school,  but  fools  will  learn  at 
no  other. 

It  is  hard  for  an  empty  sack  to  stand  upright. 

He  who  by  the  plow  would  thrive 
Himself  must  either  hold  or  drive. 


CHAPTER  VI 

JEFFERSON  AND  STATE  EDUCATION 

A  system  of  education  which  shall  reach  every  description  of 
citizen  from  the  richest  to  the  poorest,  as  it  was  the  earliest,  so 
will  it  be  the  latest  of  all  public  concerns  in  which  I  shall  permit 
myself  to  take  an  interest.  Nor  am  I  tenacious  of  the  form  in 
which  it  shall  be  introduced.  —  Thomas  Jeferson  {1817). 

The  founders  of  the  Republic  were  men  of  long 
stride,  and  the  United  States  has  found  it  hard  to 
keep  up  the  pace  they  set.  Certain  phrases  that 
Jefferson  put  into  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
as  too  obvious  to  need  argument  still  arouse  ad- 
miration or  despair  when  Americans  listen  to  the 
reading  of  their  political  creed  on  the  Fourth  of 
July.  What  Jefferson  actually  accomplished  in 
education  was  little;  but  what  he  aspired  to  and 
inspired  others  to  was  immense.  The  appraisal  of 
his  achievement  depends  upon  whether  the  balance- 
sheet  is  drawn  during  his  life  or  a  hundred  years 
later.  In  an  aristocratic  environment  he  cher- 
ished a  democratic  ideal,  and  he  converted  to  the 

7S 


JEFFERSON  AND  STATE  EDUCATION  79 
principle  of  free  schools  and  state  support  a  people 
who  had  been  committed  to  restricted  education 
and  individual  responsibility. 

Jeflferson  said  that  he  was  not  "tenacious  of  the 
form"  in  which  his  idea  of  universal  education 
should  be  introduced  —  and,  indeed,  the  realiza- 
tion of  his  project  came  about  in  a  way  very  differ- 
ent from  his  plan  and  much  later  than  he  had 
hoped.  His  native  State  was  slow  to  follow  his 
leadership.  It  was  not  until  1870  that  a  public 
school  system  was  established  in  Virginia,  and  even 
at  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  certury  60  per 
cent  of  the  children  were  not  in  the  schools. 

The  power  of  a  personality,  like  the  strength  of 
an  electric  current,  may  be  measured  by  the  resist- 
ance it  can  overcome.  An  appreciation  of  Jeffer- 
son's achievement  involves  a  brief  review  of  the 
earlier  history  of  education  in  Virginia  which  had 
a  very  different  beginning  from  New  England. 
The  Mayflower  in  1620  brought  to  the  New  World 
53  men,  21  women,  and  28  children.  The  three 
ships  coming  to  Virginia  in  1609  contained  100 
"settlers,"  among  whom  there  were  55  gentlemen 
and  12  servants,  but  no  children.  Ten  years  later, 
when  it  occurred  to  the  London  Company  of  Vir- 
ginia that  children  were  desirable  in  a  colony,  they 


ii 


1   t       ., 


80     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

shipped  over  a  batch  of  one  hundred  assorted 
"orphants"  to  be  apprenticed  to  the  planters  on 
condition  that  they  be  taught  some  useful  trade 
and  the  Christian  religion.  This  was  the  origin 
of  that  apprentice  system  which,  in  Virginia  and 
other  colonies,  was  the  first  form  of  compulsory 
education  for  poor  children. 

Later  in  the  seventeenth  century  some  "free" 
schools  were  established  by  bequests  from  philan- 
thropic persons.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned 
the  Symms  School,  which  received  from  its  founder 
two  hundred  acres  of  land  anu  an  endowment  of 
the  calves  and  milk  of  eight  cows.  The  Eaton 
Free  School  was  more  wealthy.  It  possessed  five 
hundred  acres  of  land,  stocked  with  "two  negroes, 
twelve  cows,  two  bulls,  and  twenty  hogs." 

But  such  efforts  at  the  extension  of  education 
among  the  lower  classes  did  not  meet  with  much 
encouragement  from  the  wealthier  colonists.  The 
planters  employed  private  tutors  or  engaged  the 
leisure  of  Church  of  England  clergymen  but  did 
not  think  it  wise  to  educate  the  poorer  people  above 
their  proper  station.  The  Lords  Commissioners  of 
Trades  and  Plantations  inquired,  in  1671:  "What 
course  is  taken  about  instructing  the  people  within 
your  government  in  the  Christian  religion  and 


Vv> 


WILLIAM    AND    MARY    COLLEGE,    WlhuAMSMURO 

VIRGINIA  ^ 


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JEFFERSON'  AND  STATE  EDUCATION    81 

what  provision  is  there  for  the  paying  of  your  min- 
istry?" Governor  Berkeley  answered:  "The  same 
course  that  is  taken  in  England  out  of  towns;  every 
man  according  to  his  ability  instructing  his  chil- 
dren. We  have  forty-eight  parishes  and  our  minis- 
ters are  well  paid  and  by  my  consent  should  be 
better  if  they  would  pray  ofteni-r  an<l  preach  less. 
.  .  .  But,  T  thank  God,  there  are  no  free  schools 
nor  printing,  and  I  hope  we  shall  not  have  these 
hundred  years,  for  learning  has  brought  disobe- 
dience and  heresy  and  sects  into  the  world,  and 
printing  has  divulged  them  and  libels  against  the 
best  government.    God  keep  us  from  both!" 

The  early  efforts  to  start  higher  education  in 
Virginia  met  with  even  more  emphatic  opposition. 
The  London  Company  in  1619  granted  a  thousand 
acres  of  land  at  Henrico  on  the  James  River  for  a 
college  for  the  Indians  and  nine  thousand  acres  for 
a  college  for  the  English.  The  bishops  of  England 
raised  $35,000  in  money  and  obtained  many  gifts 
of  books  and  plate.  George  Thorpe  of  the  King's 
Privy  Chamber,  a  gentleman  "learned  in  scholar- 
ship and  zealous  in  piety,"  was  chosen  as  head  of 
the  university,  but  the  Indians  soon  put  an  end  to 
the  ambitious  enterprise  l)y  scalping  him  and  six- 
teen of  his  tenants.    As  a  result  it  was  felt  that  the 

6 


M 


I  I 


Jifi 


11    i 


'■  ! 


8«     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

Indians  were  not  yet  ripe  for  higher  education,  and 
when  another  movement  was  projected  in  10S4  to 
establish  a  university  it  was  to  be  confined  to  the 
whites  and  located  upon  an  island  in  the  Susque- 
hanna River.  Though  Edwin  Palmer  of  London 
drew  up  a  fine  plan  for  the  grounds  and  buildings 
of  the  Academia  Virginiensis  et  Oxoniensis  and 
gave  all  his  lands  in  America  for  the  project, 
nothing  came  of  this  second  attempt  at  colonial 
education  in  the  South. 

In  1660  the  Assembly  of  Virginia  showed  its 
realization  of  the  need  of  higher  education  at  least 
for  the  ministry  by  passing  the  following  law: 

Whereas  the  want  of  able  and  faithful  ministers  in  this 
country  deprives  us  of  these  great  blessings  and  mercies 
that  allwaies  attend  upon  the  service  of  God  which  want 
by  reason  of  our  great  distance  from  our  native  country 
cannot  in  probability  be  allwaies  supplyed  from  thence, 
Bee  itt  enacted  that  for  the  advance  of  learning,  educa- 
tion of  youth,  supply  of  the  ministry,  and  promotion 
of  piety  there  be  land  taken  upon  purchases  for  a  col- 
ledge  and  freeschoole  and  that  there  be  with  as  much 
speede  as  may  be  convenient  houseing  erected  thereon 
for  entertainment  of  students  and  schollers. 

The  Assembly  having  thus  appr  ved  of  the  pro- 
ject, contributions  were  called  for,  and  the  Bur- 
gesses and  government  oflScials,  including  even 


JEFFERSON  AND  STATE  EDUCATION   8S 
Governor  Berkeley .  "severally  subscribed  severall 
considerable  sumes  of  money  and  quantityes  of 
tobacco."   But  these  donations  were  to  be  paid  in 
only  after  the  college  had  been  started,  and  it  was 
then  discovered  —  what  solicitors  of  college  funds 
have  often  noted  since  — that  "the  subscribed 
money  did  not  come  in  with  the  same  readiness 
with  which  it  had  been  underwritten."    For  thirty 
years  the  project  languished,  but  in  1691  an  ener- 
getic  young   Scotch    clergyman,    the    Reverend 
James  Blair,  took  it  in  hand  and  went  back  to  Eng- 
land to  get  the  necessary  money.    Tactfully  plan- 
ning his  campaign   he  went  ^rst  to  the  bishops, 
then  to  the  Queen,  next  to  the  King,  and  finally 
to  the  Attorney-General.    Their  Majesties,  learn- 
ing  that  a  college  ir  Virginia  had  been  named  after 
them,  willingly  agreed  to  contribute  to  its  building 
two  thousand  pounds  out  of  the  quitrents  of  Vir- 
gmia.    But  when  Attorney-General  Seymour  was 
approached,  he  declared  that  the  Government 
could  not  afford  such  expenditures  until  after  the 
war.    Blair  explained  that  the  purpose  of  the  col- 
lege as  expressed  in  an  act  of  the  Virginia  Assembly 
was  to  educate  young  men  for  the  ministry  and 
observed  that  Virginians  had  souls  to  be  saved  as 
well  as  Englishmen  at  home.    Seymour  did  not  see 


li 


<: 


84     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

the  neceMity.  " Souls! "  he  exclaimed.  "Damn 
your  souls !    Make  tobacco ! " ' 

But  Blair  persisted  and  not  only  got  the  .oyal 
grant  but  valuable  donations  from  other  sources, 
including  —  since  he  had  no  qualms  about  tainted 
money  —  three  hundred  pounds  from  pirates. 
Besides  these  endowments  the  College  of  William 
and  Mary  received  twenty  thousand  acres  of  land, 
an  export  tax  on  tobacco  of  a  penny  a  pound,  and  a 
monopoly  of  the  lund  office  business.  Some  years 
after  the  founding  of  the  institution,  taxes  for  the 
benefit  of  the  College  of  William  and  Mary  were 
imposed  upon  two  other  luxuries,  liquors  and  furs. 

So  founded,  the  College  of  Willipm  and  Mary, 
chartered  in  1693,  was  second  only  to  Harvnrd  in 
seniority  and  in  its  first  century  was  uot  behind  its 
New  England  rival  in  usefulness  if  tested,  as  a 
college  should  be  tested,  by  the  quality  of  the  men 
it  turned  out.  To  this  "  Alma  Mater  of  statesm"-  " 
as  it  came  to  be  called,  belongs  the  honor  of  having 
trained  three  Presidents  of  the  United  States, 
Thomas  Jefferson,  James  Monroe,  and  John  Tyler, 
also  Peyton  Randolph,  the  president  of  the  Con- 
tinental Congress,  and  John  Marshall  the  great 

■This  is  one  of  the  stories  which  Fraaldin  loved  to  tell.  See 
Sparks's  fVorks  qf  Benjamin  fraHklin,  vol.  x,  p.  111. 


See 


JEFFERSON  AND  STATE  EDCt  ATION   S5 
interpreter  of  the  Coiwlltutioii.  a;*  well  m  governors 
imd  M-natorn  of  Virginitt  too  numerous  to  mention 
In  1770,  when  Jefferson  wu*.  on  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees,  the  College  wus  made  into  u  university,  and 
»iich  innovation.H  in  American  education  us  lecture 
courses  on  political  economy  and  on  nmnicipal. 
constitutional,  and  international  law  were  intro- 
duced and  made  elective.    Here,  too,  was  started, 
in  the  year  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
the  patriotic  and  literary  society  known  as  PW 
Beta  Kappa,  the  first  of  the  host  of  Greek-letter 
intercollegiate  fraternities  now  flourishing. 

The  College  of  William  and  Mary  was  the  child 
of  Church  and  State.    Until  after  the  Revolution 
the  Bishop  of  Ix)ndon  was  its  Chancellor  and  his 
commissary  or  deputy  in  Virginia  its  President. 
The  Reverend  James  Blair,  its  indefatigable  pro- 
moter, served  as  President  for  its  first  half  century. 
The  college  was  represented  in  the  Virginia  House 
of  Burgesses  by  a  member  elected  by  t  ;    faculty, 
a  system  that  still  survives  iu  England  where  the 
universities  are  represented  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons.   But  when  the  capital  was  removed  from 
Williamsburg,  the  seat  of  the  college,  to  Richmond 
in  1779,  the  close  connection  of  William  and  Mary 
with  the  poUtical  life  of  the  State  was  broken;  and 


86     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 


i 


•t< 


' 


when  Jefferson  eslublished  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia in  1819,  the  older  institution  received  a  blow 
from  which  it  never  fully  recovered.  Williamsburg 
was  a  storm  center  in  two  wars  in  both  of  which 
the  college  suffered.  Its  buildings  were  burned 
while  occupied  by  the  French  troops  at  the  siege 
of  Yorktown  in  1781,  and  while  occupied  by  the 
Federal  troops  in  1862.  For  seven  years  in  the 
eighties  the  College  of  William  and  Mary  was 
closed,  but  it  has  survived  all  vicissitudes. 

Such  was  Jefferson's  point  of  departure  in  de- 
veloping his  plan  of  public  education  which  has 
since  then  become  characteristically  American. 
William  and  Mary  was  a  colonial  L/xford,  under 
the  control  of  the  Established  Church  and  founded 
primarily  for  the  education  of  its  clergy.  Jefferson 
broke  with  the  traditional  idea  of  a  university 
when  he  asked  Virginia  to  establish  a  free  and  secu- 
lar university,  supported  and  controlled  by  the 
State.  A  committee  headed  by  Jefferson  met  in 
the  tavern  at  Rockfish  Gap  in  the  Blue  Ridge 
Mountains  on  August  1,  1818,  to  draw  up  a  plan 
for  the  "Central  College"  of  Virginia  and  followed 
closely  the  idea  which  Jefferson  had  vainly  urj  J 
seventeen  years  before  and  which  since  has  been 
carried  out  in  almost  every  State  in  the  Union. 


JEFFERSON  AND  STATE  EDUCATION   87 
According  to  this  plan  each  locality  should  main- 
tain  its  own  elementary  schools  for  the  education 
of  every  boy  and  girl.    Secondary  education  should 
be  given  in  various  parts  of  the  State  in  academies 
and  colleges  supported  by  the  State  or  by  tuition 
fees.     This  mixed  system  of  public  htgli  schools 
and   private  schools   and  endowed  colleges   has 
served  very  satisfactorily  to  reconcile  the  demand 
for  different  kinds  of  training.    At  the  top  there 
was  to  be  a  State  University  in  which  was  to  be 
given  the  most  advanced  instruction  in  all  branches 
of  knowledge.    This  institution  was  to  be  situated 
in  "an  academical  village,"  in  buildings  connected 
by  corridors  and  surrounding  a  lawn.    Jefferson's 
architectural  plan  for  the  I'niversity  of  Virginia 
involved  the  employment  of  two  Italian  sculptors 
to  cut  the  capitals  for  the  columns  in  classical  forms. 
The   studies   of  the   university   were  divided, 
according  to  the  decimal  fashion  of  the  day,  into 
ten  groups  "each  of  which  are  within  the  power  of 
a  single  professor,"  as  the  Rockfish  Gap  commis- 
sion said,  though  they  evidently  either  overesti- 
mated the  power  of  a  professor  or  underestimated 
the  future  expansion  of  the  subjects.     The  ten 
groups  were:  (1)  Ancient  Languages;  (2)  Modem 
Languages,   including   French,   Spanish,   Italian, 


l» 


1 


'ii 


88     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

German,  and  Anglo-Saxon;  (3)  Mathematics;  (4) 
Physico-mathematics;  (5)  Physics,  including  c^^em- 
istry  and  mineralogy;  (6)  Botany  and  Zo6l- 
ogy;  (7)  Anatomy  and  Medicine;  (8)  Goverament, 
Political  Economy,  and  History;  (9)  Municipal 
Law;  (10)  Ideology,  including  rhetoric,  ethics, 
belles-lettres  and  fine  arts. 

This  curious  curriculum  shows  the  hand  of 
Jeflferson  in  both  its  inclusions  and  omissions. 
Anglo-Saxon  was  put  among  the  modern  languages 
because  Jefferson  held  that  its  study  would  "re- 
cruit and  renovate  the  vigor  of  the  English  lan- 
guage, too  much  impaired  by  the  negl-H  of  its 
ancient  constitution  and  dialects."  He  a.„aed  that 
the  adoption  of  phonetic  spelling  would  restore  the 
historic  continuity  of  the  language  now  obscured 
by  the  accidents  of  the  conventional  spelling. ' 

Under  "Ideology,"  a  term  introduced  by  Count 
Destutt  de  Tracy  of  the  French  Institute,  Jeffer- 
son hoped  for  the  development  of  a  new  philosophy 
free  from  the  theological  and  metaphysical  postu- 
lates of  the  old  and  leading  toward  a  democratic 
instead  of  a  monarchical  ideal  of  society.    This 


I 


•See  Jefferson's  Essay  toward  facilitating  instruction  in  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Modern  Dialects  of  the  English  Language  for  the  use  of 
the  University  of  Virginia. 


JEFFERSON  AND  STATE  EDUCATION  89 
ideal  of  Jefferson's  has  not  yet  been  realized,  al- 
though we  may  discern  an  approach  toward  it  in 
the  pragmatism  of  William  James  and  John  Dewey, 
hotly  opposed  in  the  monarchical  countries  of 
Europe  because  of  its  democratic  implications. 

The  prominent  place  given  to  science  in  the 
Jeffersonian  scheme  was  another  novelty  and  ex- 
cited popular  hostility,  particularly  when  Thomas 
Cooper,  the  first  professor  of  chemistry  chosen  for 
the  new  university,  was  — not  without  reason  — 
suspected  of  Unitarlaaism.  The  opposition  to 
Cooper  was  indeed  so  strong  that  the  call  had  to 
be  canceled. ' 

The  unprecedented  omission  of  the  dominant 
department  in  the  older  universities,  the  theologi- 
cal, was  thus  explained  by  the  Commission :  "  We 
have  proposed  no  professor  of  Divinity.  This 
will  be  within  the  province  of  the  professor  of 
Ethics.  We  have  thought  it  proper  at  this  point 
to  leave  any  sects  to  provide  as  iLey  think  fittest 
the  means  of  further  instruction  in  their  own  pe- 
culiar tenets."    This  very  sensible  solution  of  the 

nJ  »'u  "T'"  f'?'^"'*"*^'  '"  8«"ing  a  faculty  for  his  university 
are  told  .n  hvely  fash.on  by  W.  P.  Trent  in  a  paper  on  Engld 
tulture  tn  Virgxma.  in  the  Johns  Hopkins  Studies  (i88a).  See 
also  Herbert  B  Adams's  Thomas  Jefferson  and  ,he  UniJnity  of 
I  'rjinia.  published  by  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education  (I8S8) 


90     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

denominational  diflBculty  has  not  yet  been  carried 
out  as  fully  as  it  might  be.  What  Jefferson  bojied 
for  may  be  seen  from  a  letter  of  his  to  Thomas 
Cooper:  "I  think  the  invitation  will  be  accepted 
by  some  sects  from  candid  intentions,  and  by 
others  from  jealousy  and  rivalship.  And  by  bring- 
ing the  rival  sects  together  and  mixing  them  with 
the  mass  of  other  students,  we  shall  soften  their 
asperities,  liberalize  and  neutralize  their  prejudices, 
and  make  the  general  religion  a  religion  of  peace, 
reason,  and  morality." 

But  for  the  greater  part  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury "the  rival  sects"  preferred  to  ke«  up  a  fight 
on  the  State  Universities  as  "godless  institutions," 
rather  than  attempt  to  supplement  their  deficien- 
cies as  Jefiferson  had  suggested.  Recently,  however, 
^mc  denominations  have  established  residential 
halls  or  theological  seminaries  near  to  the  State 
Universities  and,  by  means  of  church  clubs  and 
student  pastors,  have  sought  to  foster  religious 
activities  and  study  among  the  students. 

Thomas  Jefferson  was  chosen  as  the  first  Rector 
of  the  Universit.v  of  Virginia  and  held  that  position 
until  his  death  in  1826.  Many  of  the  innovations 
that  he  introduced  or  encouraged  at  William  and 
Mary  or  at  the  University  of  Virginia  have  been 


JEFFERSON  AND  STATE  EDUCATION    91 

widely  adopted  and  now  form  part  of  the  spirit  of 
American  education.    To  those  already  mentioned 
should  be  added  the  elective  system  and  vocational 
specialization,  for  it  was  Jefferson's  idea  that  the 
students  should  have  'uncontrolled  choice  in  the 
lectures  they  shall  choose  to  attend,  and  give  ex- 
clusive application  to  those  branches  only  which 
are  to  qualify  them  for  the  particular  vocations  to 
which  they  are  destined."    The  elective  system, 
carried  perhaps  by  George  Ticknor  to  Harvard,' 
was  extended  under  President  Eliot's  adminis- 
tration to  all  studies  and  has  been  in  some  degree 
adopted  by  all  American  universities  and  by  most 
colleges.    Along  with  this  principle  of  freedom  of 
learning  and  teaching,  Jefferson  also  followed  the 
German  universities  in  their  system  of  rotation  in 
oflSce.    According  to  his  plan  the  chief  executive 
was  elected  annually  from  among  the  members  of 
the  faculty.    But  in  this  respect  since  his  day  the 
tide  has  set  in  the  other  direction,  and  as  the  uni- 
versitif  have  become  more  extensive  and  complex 
th?ir  administration  has  become  less  democratic. 
As  it  more  clearly  appeared  that  a  univ-rsity 
gained  in  numbers,  wealth,  and  renown  when  it 

»  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education    Circular  of  Information,  No    1 
1888.  p.  127. 


n 


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92     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

was  under  the  leadership  of  a  powerful  personality, 
the  tendency  has  been  to  concentrate  the  control 
in  the  hands  of  its  president.  Finally  even  the 
University  of  Virginia  succumbed  and,  with  a  per- 
manent president,  has  prospered  unprecedentedly. 

Jefferson  desired  to  apply  to  the  university  the 
same  theory  that  he  advocated  for  the  State  — 
that  the  best  government  is  the  least  government. 
He  wished  to  do  away  with  corporal  punishment, 
espionage,  and  "  useless  observances  which  mere- 
ly multiply  occasions  for  dissatisfaction,  disobe- 
dience, and  revolt."  After  Jefferson's  death,  how- 
ever, the  student  on  matriculating  had  to  sign  an 
eight-page  pamphlet  of  regulations  and  penalties. 
Small  wonder  that  the  consequent  "disobedience 
and  revolt"  took  the  form  of  riots,  in  one  of  which 
a  professor  was  shot. 

But  the  honor  system,  which  was  adopted  in 
1842  and  by  which  the  student's  signed  statement 
that  he  has  received  no  assistance  in  his  work  is 
accepted  without  question,  is  decidedly  Jefferso- 
nian.  It  has  been  quite  generally  adopted,  althougli 
it  is  not  everywhere  so  successful  as  it  is  in  insti- 
tutions like  Virginia  and  Princeton  which  have 
a  homogeneous  student  body  with  a  strong  and 
unified  public  sentiment. 


JEFFERSON  AND  STATE  EDUCATION   93 

Jefferson  did  not  wish  to  have  the  university 
confer  any  degrees,  titles,  or  honors.  A  simple  cer- 
tificate of  graduation  specifying  the  subject  to  which 
the  student  had  devoted  most  attention  would,  he 
believed,  answer  tli  purpose.  But  here  his  country 
has  failed  to  follow  him.  Degrees  have  multiplied 
amazingly  and  the  ceremonies  of  conferring  them 
have  developed  an  academic  pomp  that  would 
shock  the  early  apostle  of  democratic  simplicity. 

But  no  man  can  hope  to  make  posterity  adopt 
all  his  ideas.  Jefferson  was  more  fortunate  than 
most  in  this  respect.  The  three  achievements  in 
which  he  took  most  pride  and  which  he  wished  to 
have  engraved  upon  his  tombstone  are  still  re- 
garded with  reverence  and  gratitude  by  all  Ameri- 
cans. Few  men  in  history  have  had  a  grander 
monument  than  the  unpretentious  stone  bearing 
the  legend: 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

AUTHOR 

OF  THE  DECLARATION  OF  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE 

OF 

THE  STATUTE  OF  VIRGINIA 

FOR  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM,   AND 

FATHER   OF  THE   UNIVERSITY 

OF  VIRGINIA. 


I? 


CHAPTER  VII 

WASniN(JTON    AND   NATIONAI,    EDUC^ATION 

The  time  is  therefore  come  when  a  plan  of  universal  education 
ought  to  be  adopted  in  the  I'nited  States.  —  George  Washington 
{1795). 


ii  'i 


If  JefiFerson,  the  father  of  the  party  of  State  Rights, 
was  content  when  he  had  founded  the  University 
of  Virginia,  it  is  clear  that  Washington,  the  leader 
of  the  Federalists,  wanted  nothing  less  than  a 
national  system  of  education.  The  dominant  mo- 
tive of  both  these  statesmen  was  the  same;  the 
difference  between  them  lay  in  the  scope  of  their 
ideas.  Jefferson  wanted  to  unify  the  mind  of  the 
individual  State;  Washington,  to  unify  the  mind 
of  the  whole  nation  by  educating  the  youth  to- 
gether. Both  feared  foreign  influences:  W^ashing- 
ton,  the  evil  influence  of  education  in  monarchical 
England;  Jefferson,  the  evil  influence  of  New  Eng- 
land teachers  and  preachers.  Jefferson,  in  one  of 
his  pessimistic  moods,  wrote  to  Joseph  C.  Cabell 

94 


WASHINGTON  AND  EDUCATION        05 

thut,  unless  Virginia  established  her  own  univer- 
sity, the  State  would  have  to  send  her  children 
to  Kentucky  or  to  Massachusetts.  If  they  went 
to  Kentucky,  they  would  stay  there.  If  tliey 
went  to  Massachusetts,  they  would  return  fanatics 
and  Tories. 

If,  however,  we  are  to  go  a-hegging  any  where  for  our 
education  I  would  rather  it  should  l)e  to  Kentucky 
than  any  other  state  because  she  has  more  of  the 
flavor  of  the  old  cask  than  any  other.  .VII  the  states 
but  our  own  are  sensible  that  Knowledge  is  power, 
while  we  are  sinking  into  the  barbarisax  of  our  Indian 
aborigines  and  expect  like  them  to  oppose  by  igno- 
rance the  overwhelming  mass  of  light  and  science  by 
which  we  shall  be  surrounded.  It  is  a  comfort  I  am 
not  to  live  to  see  this. 

Washington's  reasons  for  desiring  a  national  uni- 
versity where  youths  from  various  parts  of  the 
country  could  complete  their  education  in  common 
are  given  in  the  following  passage  from  his  last  will 
and  testament: 

It  has  always  been  a  source  of  serious  regret  with  rac, 
to  see  the  youth  of  these  United  States  sent  to  foreign 
countries  for  the  purpose  of  education,  often  before 
their  minds  were  formed,  or  they  had  imbibed  any 
adequate  ideas  of  the  happiness  of  their  own;  contract- 
ing too  frequently,  not  only  habits  of  dissij)ati()n  and 
extravagance,  but  principles  unfriendly  to  republican 


if 


I 


h 


I 


I' t 


00     AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

g^Tverninent,  and  to  the  true  and  genuine  liberties  of 
mankind,  which  thereafter  are  rarely  overcome;  for 
these  reasons  it  has  been  my  ardent  wish  to  see  a  plan 
devised  on  a  lilwral  scale,  which  would  have  a  ten- 
dency to  spread  systematic  ideas  through  all  parts  of 
this  risiiig  empire,  thereby  to  do  away  local  attach- 
ments and  State  prejudices,  as  far  as  the  nature  of 
things  would,  or  indeed  ought  to  admit,  from  our  na- 
tional councils.     Looking  anxiously  forward  to  the 
accomplishment  of  so  desirable  an  object  as  this  is 
(in  my  estimation),  my  mind  has  not  been  able  to 
contemplate  any  plan  more  likely  to  effect  the  meas- 
ure, than  the  establishment  of  a  University  in  a 
central  part  of  the  United  States,  to  which  the  youths 
of  fortune  and  talents  from  all  parts  thereof  may  be 
Kent  for  the  completion  of  their  education,  in  all  the 
branches  of  polite  literature,  in  arts  and  sciences,  in 
acquiring  knowledge  in  the  principles  of  politics  and 
good  government,  and,  as  a  matter  of  infinite  impor- 
tance in  my  judgment,  by  associating  with  each  other, 
and  forming  friendships  in  juvenile  years,  be  enabled 
to  free  themselves  in  a  proper  degree  from  those  local 
prejudices  and  habitual  jealousies  which  have  just 
been  mentioned,  and  which,  when  carried  to  excess, 
are  never-failing  sources  of  disquietude  to  the  public 
mind,  and  pregnant  of  mischievous  consequences  to 
this  country. 

These  words  remind  one  of  the  will  of  that  later 
empire  builder,  Cecil  Rhodes,  who  left  a  legacy 
that  picked  young  men  from  Australia,  New  Zea- 
land, Canada,  South  Africa,  the  United  States, 


WASHINGTON  AND  EDUCATION  97 
and  Germany  might  be  educated  together  at  Ox- 
ford  with  u  vk'w  of  reducing  national  antagonisms 
and  local  prcjudicfs. 

That  Washin^on  cherishetl  the  idea  even  before 
the  Revolutionary  War  k  proved  by  u  passage  in 
Sanuitl  Blodget's  Econon, xa: 

As  the  most  minute  circuinstuncea  are  sometimes  in- 
structinj,'  for  their  relation  to  great  events,  we  relate 
the  first  that  we  ever  heard  of  a  nallonul  university: 
It  was  in  the  camj)  at  Cumhridge.  in  Octolwr.  1775, 
when  Major  WWVmux  Hiodget  went  to  the  quarters  of 
Genera!  Washington  to  complain  of  the  militia  quar- 
tered therein.  The  writer  o.'  this  hnng  in  company 
with  his  friend  and  relation,  and  li caring  General 
Greene  join  in  lamenting  the  then  ruinous  state  of  the 
eldest  seminary  of  Massac-husetts  ol)served,  merely  to 
connule  the  company  <.f  frieuJ.s,  that  to  make  amends 
for  these  injuries,  after  our  war.  he  hoped  we  should 
erect  a  noble  national  university,  nf  which  the  youth  of 
all  he  world  might  be  proud  to  receive  instructions. 
^yhat  was  thus  pleasantly  said.  Washington  imme- 
diately replied  to.  with  that  inimitably  expressive  and 
truly  interesting  look  for  which  he  was  sometimes  so 
remarkable:  "  Young  man,  you  are  a  prophet!  inspired 
to  speak  what  I  am  confident  will  one  day  be  realized." 

W^ashington  then  detailed  his  plans  for  a  federal 
city  and  university  to  be  built  near  the  falls  of  the 
Potonmc,  speaking  with  such  force  that  Blodget 
was  thoroughly  converted  and  subsequently  copy- 


t- 


i 


M     AMEaiCAX  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

righted  his  Economica  for  the  "iK'nefit  of  the  free 
education   fund   of   tlie   university   founded   by 
George  Washington  in  his  hist  years."    This  fund 
began  with  about  $25,000  in  fifty  shares  in  the 
Potomac  River  Navigation  Company  which  Wash- 
ington  bequeathed  to  the  Government  for  the  pur- 
pose  of  founding  a  national  university.     These 
shares  had  been  given  to  Washington  by  Virginia, 
together  with  a  hundred  shares  in  the  James  River 
Company,  as  a  reward  for  his  services  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary  War.    The  James  River  stock  he  gave 
to  Liberty  Hall  Academy,  a  .school  in  Virginia 
established  by  the  Scotch-Irish  l»resbyterians  be- 
cause  the  Colleg..  of  William  and  Mary  was  too 
narrowly  Episcopalian.    Thus  aided.  Liberty  Hall 
Academy  developed  into  a  college  and  later  into  a 
university  which  took  the  name  of  its  benefactor. 
After  the  Civil  War  General  Robert  E.  Lee  became 
its  president,  and  since  h..  death  the  institution 
has  been  known  as  Washington  and  Lee  University. 
But  although  Washington  showed  his  interest 
in  the  educational  institutions  of  his  native  State 
by  this  endowment  as  well  as  by  serving  as  chan- 
cellor of  his  Alma  Mater.  William  and  Mary,  from 
1788  until  his  death  in  1799,  he  never  relinquished 
his  belief  that  national  as  well  as  State  instituUons 


WASHINGTON  AND  KDLX'ATION        09 
of  IcamiriK  were  nwded.     In  Iiim  first  »i|Hrch  to 
Congress  on  January  8,    1790,   Washington  vm- 
phasjzed  cdun  'ion  as  a  national  duly  and  sug- 
gested a  university,  and  in  his  hi.st  siMrt- h  lo  Con- 
gress he  again  ealled  attention  to  thr  need  of  a 
national  university  and  a  njih'tary  aeadeniy.    Part 
of  his  intention  has  been  satisfa<torily  carried  out 
in  the  MiUtary  Aeadeniy  at  Vu-sl  Point  on  the 
Hudson  and  in  the  Naval  Aeadeniy  at  Annapolis 
on  Chesapeake  Bay.     Perhaps  hteausc  Washing- 
ton had  been  untrained  in  military  seienee  when  he 
was  called  upon  to  had   the  Continental  Army 
against  the  most  powerful  nation  in  the  world,  he 
fully  appreciated  t  he  value  of  such  training.    '*  The 
art  of  war,"  he  declared,  "is  at  once  comprehen- 
sive and   complicated;   it  demands   much  previ- 
ous  study,"  and  he  advocated  preparedness  by 
recommending  to  Congress  that  "however  pacific 
llie  ^'encral  policy  of  u  nation  may  be,  it  ought 
never  to  be  without  an  adequate  stock  of  military 
knowledge  for  emergencies," 

The  Military  Academy  at  West  Point  was  defi- 
nitely opened  on  July  4,  1802,  by  President  Jeffer- 
son with  ten  cadets  i)resent.  Since  then  it  has  been 
in  continuous  activity  with  the  exception  of  the 
war  year  of  1812.     It  has  furnished  the  regular 


If 


100   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

rrmy  with  most  of  its  oflBcers  in  all  American  wars 
and  further  has  given  to  the  country  many  of  its 
leading  technicians  and  superintendents  of  public 
works,  for  it  was,  until  the  opening  of  the  Rensse- 
laer Polytechnic  Institute  in  1825,  the  only  en- 
gineering school  in  the  United  States.    West  Point, 
during  most  of  its  existence,  has  received  young 
men  from  each  congressional  district,  and  this  dis- 
tribution of  students  has  made  the  American  army 
a  truly  national  and  popular  organization  and  has 
thus  achieved  one  of  the  aims  of  Washington's 
ideal  of  education.    When  the  United  States  en- 
tered the  Great  War  young  men  of  draft  age  who 
were  not  needed  for  immediate  service  were  placed 
at  Government  expense  in  the  universities  of  their 
choice  and  received  intensive  military  and  naval 
training  under  West  Point  oficers,  supplemented 
by  lectures  on  the  causes  of  the  war  and  on  techni- 
cal subjects  by  instructors  'rom  the  regular  faculty. 
It  is  already  apparent  tha\  the  experience  gained 
from  this  Student  Army  Training  Corps  is  des- 
tined to  modify  American  educational  methods  in 

the  future. 

In  this  way  Washington's  desire  for  military 
education  has  been  realized.  The  other  part  of  his 
idea,  a  national  university,  Cianc  near  being  carried 


WASHINGTON  AND  EDUCATION       101 


out  by  the  ai«l  of  Jefferson.  In  1794  there  arose  an 
opportunity  to  import  en  maftse  a  European  uni- 
versity. The  faculty  of  Geneva,  feeling  uncom- 
fortable in  the  Swiss  Republic,  proposed  to  emi- 
grate IP  a,  b'j  {•/  ii^  the  United  States  if  a  place  could 
be  fou  (1  for  tl;eni  John  Adams  and  Thomas 
Jeffersi  r  uere  nmc  i  taken  with  the  idea  and  urged 
it  upon  Washington  in  the  hope  of  getting  his  Poto- 
mac shares  for  that  purpose,  but  this  scheme  of 
wholesale  importation  did  not  fall  in  with  Wash- 
ington's notion.  He  preferred  to  pick  his  pro- 
fessors from  various  countries  —  for  instance,  a 
Scotchman  rather  than  a  Frenchman  for  philos- 
ophy —  instead  of  bringing  over  a  body  of  foreign- 
ers who  would  have  to  teach  in  French  or  Latin. 
So  what  might  hav'e  proved  an  interesting  experi- 
ment in  transplanting  education  was  never  tried, 
and  it  will  never  be  known  whether  the  famous 
university  would  have  prospered  on  the  Potomac 
as  it  has  on  the  Rhone. 

Washington  and  Jefferson  worked  together  on 
the  educational  problem  with  as  much  harmony 
as  could  be  expected  of  men  of  such  different  tem- 
peraments. There  is  no  necessary  conflict  between 
State  and  national  education.  The  State  Uni- 
versities have  fought  hard  for  a  national  university 


I] 


If 

'    If 


102    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

at  Washington.  In  1890  John  W.  Hoyt,  first 
President  of  the  University  of  Wyoming,  revived 
the  agitation.  President  Andrew  D.  White  of 
Cornell,  President  Edmund  J.  James  of  Illinois, 
and  other  equally  prominent  educators  have 
worked  for  such  an  institution.  It  has  been  en- 
dorsed by  the  National  Association  of  State  Uni- 
versities and  by  the  National  Educational  Asso- 
ciation. The  legislatures  of  Western  States  have 
petitioned  for  it.  Washington,  JeflFerson,  Madison, 
Monroe,  John  Quincy  Adams,  Grant,  Hayes,  and 
later  Presidents  have  urged  it  upon  Congress,  and 
Committees  of  the  Senate  and  House  have  re- 
ported favorably.  But,  as  President  James  of 
Illinois  remarked:  "Private  institutions,  religious 
and  secular,  have  opposed,  thus  far  successfully, 
the  movement."  Western  opinion  has  been  dis- 
posed to  ascribe  this  opposition  to  the  Eastern 
universities,  which  grew  out  of  colleges  modeled 
after  the  private  schools  of  England.  The  West 
drew  its  inspiration  from  German  and  French 
sources  and  has  come  to  regard  all  education,  from 
the  elementary  to  the  graduate  school,  as  a  public 
function.  From  this  point  of  view  the  educational 
system  appears  to  need  a  national  university  to 
complete  its  symmetry. 


II 


WASHINGTON  AND  EDUCATION       103 

A  dream  may  !>e  fulfilled  in  various  ways.     The 
national  university  foreseen  by  Washington  is  still 
in  the  future.    But  the  large  endowed  universities 
in  the  East  fulfill  Washington's  ideal  by  drawing 
together  students  from   all  parts  of  the  United 
States.     The  proportion  of  American  students  now 
going  abroad  for  their  education  is  not  great  enough 
to  endanger  the  national  ideals.    Furthermore  the 
Federal  Government  is  carrying  on  many  of  the 
functions  of  such  an  institution  in  a    way  that 
would    have   pleased    Washington    and    shocked 
Jefferson.    Some  sixty  million  dollars  of  national 
funds  are  now  appropriated  annually  for  agricul- 
tural education  and  experimentation,  for  the  naval 
and  military  academies,  for  Indian  schools,  and 
for  departments  that  are  largely  occupied  with 
scientific  research  and  the  diffusion  of  knowledge, 
such  a«  the  Bureaus   of  Education,  Ethnology, 
Mill*'  '  eries.  Standards,  the  Library  of  Con- 

gress, \.val  Observatory,  Public  Health  Service, 
National  Museum,  Zoological  Park,  Smithsonian 
Institution,  and  the  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey. 


II 


I 


CHAPTER  VIII 


SCHOOLS  OP  THE  YOUNG  REPUBLIC 

Be  it  remembered  that  Uncle  Sam  is  aa  undoubted  friend  of 
public  education,  although  so  sadly  deficient  in  his  own.  ...  It 
was,  therefore,  democratically  believed,  and  loudly  insisted  on, 
that  as  the  State  had  freely  received,  it  should  freely  give;  and 
that  "larnin,  even  the  most  powerfullest  highest  larnin, "  should 
at  once  be  bestowed  on  e/erybody!  and  without  a  farthing's 
expense!  — fiaynard  Rush  Hall  (1824). 


P 

it: 


l^\ 


It  is  impossible  to  understand  anything  about  the 
American  schools  of  the  early  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  without  bearing  in  mind  the  political  con- 
ditions and  ideals  which  determined  their  organiza- 
tion, standard,  course  of  study,  equipment,  text- 
books, and  administration.  The  political  revolu- 
tion which  abolished  the  colonial  tie  with  Great 
Britain  abolished  also  the  colonial  habit  of  mind 
and  forced  the  American  people  henceforth  to  find 
in  their  own  institutions  the  stimulus  to  popular 
education  instead  of  depending  upon  the  example 
of  the  n^other  country. 
The  still  more  important  peaceful  revolution 

104 


I 


SCHOOLS  OF  THE  YOUNG  REPUBLIC  105 
which  subsequently  abolished  property  qualifica- 
tions for  the  suflPrage  in  the  various  States  and 
made  most  offices  within  the  gift  of  the  people 
directly  elective  had  also  an  influence  on  the 
schools  of  America.    In  the  first  place,  it  gave  a 
stimulus  to  the  ideal  of  universal  education,  be- 
cause, if  all  men  were  to  be  voters,  the  common- 
wealth must  see  that  all  children  were  instructed, 
unless  it  desired  that  illiterates  should  direct  the 
destinies  of  the  nation.    PubUc  schools,  desirable 
in  colonial  days,  became  imperative  in  a  wholly 
self-governing  democracy.     Another  by-product 
of  democracy,  less  of  an  unmixed  blessing  than  the 
sentiment  in  favor  of  universal  education,  was  the 
district  school  system,  which  originated  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  Connecticut  and  r'as  copied  in  most 
of  the  States  of  the  Union.    A  "district"  wat  the 
neighborhood  around  a  public  school,  and  there 
were  usually  several  such  districts  in  each  "town," 
although  some  towns  were  never  subdivided.    The 
school  district  is  the  smallest  and  therefore,  from  a 
democratic  standpoint,  the  most  important  of  po- 
htical  divisions.    Its  size  is  determined  by  the 
length  of  the  children's  legs,  for  it  must  be  within 
walking  distance  of  most  of  the  pupils,  not  much 
over  a  mile.    The  school  district  averaged  about 


W 


a 


106   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

four  square  miles  in  area,  and  the  number  of  pupils 
ranged  from  half  a  dozen  to  fifty  or  more.  As  the 
means  of  transportation  improved,  the  district 
expanded  into  the  township  and  county  with  State 
supervision  and  national  aid,  until  now  we  have 
rural  county  high  schools  to  which  the  pupils  are 
brought  in  free  motor  omnibuses.  The  money 
raised  by  the  town  school  tax  was  distributed 
among  the  districts  in  various  ways  —  according 
to  the  population,  the  number  of  children  of  school 
age,  or  the  amount  paid  by  the  district  in  taxes,  or 
on  a  basis  of  equality.  In  1827  a  Massachusetts 
law  empowered  district  committeemen  to  care  for 
the  school  property  and  select  the  teacher.  This 
act,  according  to  one  writer,  represented  "the 
high-water  mark  of  modern  democracy,  and  the 
low-water  mark  of  the  public  school  system."  It 
meant  the  passing  of  school  control  from  the  expert 
and  the  oflBcial  to  the  parent  and  the  neighbor. 

The  faults  of  the  district  school  system  are  ob- 
vious. If  a  self-made  man  has  a  hard  struggle  to 
get  an  education,  so  has  a  self-made  community. 
Nothing  could  be  introduced  into  the  curriculum 
that  the  district  did  not  regard  as  "practical,"  and 
this  usually  meant  only  the  three  R's  and  spelling, 
grammar,  and  geography.     Novel  methods  were 


-.U 


SCHOOLS  OF  THE  YOUNG  REPUBLIC  107 

viewed  with  us  much  disHke  as  new  studies,  and 
new  text-books  were  regarded  as  out  of  the  ques- 
tion until  the  old  ones  had  been  worn  out  by 
decades  of  continuous  use.     To  save  the  cost  of 
a  skilled  teacher's  wages,  the  district  commonly 
hired,  without  regard  to  other  considerations,  the 
cheapest  person  who  could  produce  a  certificate, 
unless  some  man  powerful  in  local  politics  had  a 
relative  for  whom  he  desired  the  place.    The  very 
districts  that  needed  good  schools  most  were  from 
their  ignorance  least  conscious  of  the  need.    As  a 
result  the  progressive  districts  raised  the  level  of 
public  instruction  from  generation  to  generation, 
while  the  schools  in  other  districts  went  from  bad 
to  worse.     This  contrast  was   most  marked  in 
States  where  there  was  no  general  system  of  super- 
vision.   In  Delaware,  for  example,  an  educational 
convention  declared  in  1843  that  "the  school  of 
every  district  is  in  the  power  of  its  school  voters; 
they  can  have  as  good  a  school  as  they  please,  or  an 
inferior  school,  or  no  school." 

According  to  modern  standards  the  school  equip- 
ment of  those  days  was  usually  unspeakably  bad. 
The  schoolhouse  was  the  same  sort  of  wooden 
box  which  had  done  duty  in  colonial  times; 
there  was  the  same  lack  of  globes,  maps,  pictures, 


rli 


!     : 


M 
ill 


108   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

blackboards,  and  decorations;  there  were  the  same 
congested  wooden  benches;  the  same  red  hot  stove 
kept  the  pupils  in  the  front  benches  overheated 
while  the  children  in  the  back  of  the  roon?  were 
shivering  in  the  draft  from  the  window  —  ^wme- 
times  broken  but  never  open.  One  change  there 
was:  slates  came  into  general  use  after  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  and  became  ideal  instruments  for 
formal  exercises  in  arithmetic  and  quite  informal 
ventures  in  portraiture. 

The  harsh  school  discipline  known  to  tradition 
was  long  retained  in  most  American  communities, 
even  after  some  European  countries  had  largely 
abandoned  the  rod  in  favor  of  milder  measures. 
But  the  teacher  was  not  wholly  to  blame  for  this 
conservatism.  The  American  boy  began  the  prac- 
tice of  liberty  and  equality  rather  too  early  in  life 
for  the  peace  of  mind  of  the  old-time  pedagogue. 
The  strict  bonds  of  social  custom  and  an  early 
training  in  reverence  for  rank  and  place  made 
obedience  natural  to  the  German  child  and  even 
to  the  boy  of  seventeenth  century  Massachusetts. 
But  deference  and  decorum  were  not  the  cardinal 
virtues  of  American  democracy  in  the  days  of 
Jackson.  In  certain  of  the  frontier  settlements 
no  teacher  was  secure  of  his  place  until  he  had 


a.. 


SCHOOLS  OF  THE  VOUNG  REPUBLIC  109 

knocked  down  three  or  four  overgrown,  mischief- 
loving  lads  who  had  challenged  his  authority. 
Sometimes  an  unpopular  teacher  would  find  his 
schoolroom  door  barred,  or  the  chimney  stopped 
up,  or  an  impromptu  holiday  enforced  in  some 
other  ingenious  fashion.  Those  who  criticize  the 
rule  of  the  rod  in  the  district  school  of  a  past  gen- 
t  ratio  sometimes  forget  with  what  conditions  the 
teach*     then  had  to  contend. 

The  best  feature  of  the  district  system  was  not 
its  influence  on  the  children  but  its  effect  on  the 
community.    In  other  countries  the  public  school 
has  been  regarded  as  a  benevolent  institution  run 
by  some  far-off  entity,  the  state,  and  the  private 
school  has  been  looked  upon  as  a  convenient  place 
to  send  the  son  or  daughter  who  was  in  the  way  at 
home.    But  the  American  public  schools  stood  not 
only  for  education  oj  the  people  but  for  education 
hy  the  people.    The  very  fact  that  the  school  stood 
on  no  higher  level  than  the  people  it  reached  robbed 
education  of  that  touch  of  aloofness  and  conscious 
condescension  always  irritating  to  the  uneducated 
man  who  h;»s  instruction  imposed  upon  him  or 
his  children.     The  election  of  a  school  board,  the 
choice  of  a  new  teacher,  the  ceremonies  of  "quar- 
ter days"  and  commencements,  were  red-letter 


'A 


(I: 


m 


I 


li 


no    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

occasions  to  the  village  or  farming  region  which 
supported  the  local  school. 

The  early  schoolhouse  served  also  as  a  sort  of 
community  center  —  a  "  meeting-house  "  for  church 
services,  for  political  assemblies,  and  for  "socia- 
bles." Here  the  comnumity  gathered  for  any 
corporate  action,  and  the  women  naturally  took 
part  in  the  deliberations  as  well  as  the  men.  Out 
of  this  school  meeting  grew  the  more  complex  po- 
litical organization  of  the  community,  still  preserv- 
ing some  of  its  original  characteristics.  Thus  we 
find  that  women  voted  at  school  elections  in  many 
States  long  before  they  could  vote  for  President. 

In  the  pioneer  country  school  the  pupils  ranged 
from  ABC  children  to  girls  who  had  been  three 
times  through  the  arithmetic  or  boys  who  were 
being  coached  for  college,  while  the  spelling-bees, 
singing-schools,  and  debating  societies  constituted 
what  might  be  called  the  "extension  department" 
of  the  country  school.  Parents  visited  the  school 
at  every  convenient  opportunity  to  see  with  their 
own  eyes  how  their  money  was  being  spent  and 
how  their  children  were  getting  along.  The  spell- 
ing-bee was  not  a  mere  drill  to  impress  certain  facts 
upon  the  plastic  memory  of  y*  nth.  It  was  also  one 
of  the  recreations  of  adult  life,  if  recreation  be  the 


SCHOOLS  OF  THE  "OUNd  REPUBLIC  ill 
right  word  for  whut  was  tukt-n  .so  seriously  |,y 
every  one.  The  .specturle  of  a  srluM)!  trustee  stand- 
ing with  a  l)hie-buckcd  Weljster  ojH-n  in  liis  hand 
while  gray-haired  men  and  women,  one  row  being 
captained  by  the  .schoohnaster  and  the  rival  team 
by  the  minister.  .speUe*!  each  other  down  is  one 
that  it  would  be  hard  lo  reproduce  under  a  more 
centrahzed  and  le.ss  immediately  popular  form  of 
school  government. 


Secondary  education  in  America  has  undergone 
a  curious  development.    During  the  colonial  period 
the  Latin  grammar  school  dominated  instruction 
beyond  the  primary  grades,  whereas  in  our  time 
the  public  high  school  is  the  leading  type.     Bolh 
these  institutions  were  public.     But  for  a  long 
period,  which  may  roughly  be  indicated  as  lyinj 
between  the  Revolution  and  the  Civil  War,'  the 
Latin  Grammar  school  remained  as  a  survival  of 
another  age  while  the  high  school  was  gradually 
beginning  to  assume  its  place  as  part  of  the  educa- 
tional system  of  the  nation.    The  private  academy 
meanwhile  provided  the  link  between  elementary 
school  and  college. 

The  academy,  the  name  of  which  is  taken  from 
the  Athenian   groves   where   Plato   walked   and 


I 


I  ! 


II? 


f( 


119    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

talked  with  hi.H  pupils,  wan  developed  in  England 
in  the  seventeenth  century  to  meet  th?  needs  of  the 
nonconfornuMbi,  who  were  not  allowed  to  grau'iate 
at  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  The  earliest  American 
academies  were  also  substitutes  for  college  rather 
than  preparatory  schools  for  college.  The  first 
American  academy  to  bear  th«>  name  was  char* 
tered  at  Philadelphia  in  1753  and  became  in  later 
years  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  The  Phil- 
lips Academies  at  Andover,  Massachusetts,  and  at 
Exeter,  New  Hampshire,  on  the  other  hand  re- 
mained secondary  institutions;  and  still  others  be- 
came "finishing  schools"  for  those  who  required  a 
rapid  rounding  off  and  polishing  of  their  education. 
The  great  merit  of  the  academies  Lay  in  adding 
breadth  and  variety  to  the  course  of  study.  The  old 
Latin  schools  which  they  had  largely  displaced 
taught  little  but  the  classics  and  taught  them  as 
grammar  rather  than  as  literature.  But  in  the 
early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  an  academy 
would  offer  "all  the  branches  of  English,  classical, 
mathematical,  and  philosophical  literature  which 
are  taught  in  the  universities,  together  with  the 
French  language  if  required."  The  girls'  acade- 
mies —  usually  known  by  the  atrocious  title  of 
"female   seminaries"  —  went   even   further   and 


SCHOOLS  OF  THE  YOUNG  RKPUBLK'  u.i 

taught  triuny  .sulijwtj.  which  n  .  coUvgv  o!  th,.  ,hiy 
wouUl  have  dreumcd  of  provi.lii.K  any  more  thun 
itwouldofadmlttingth  ;girls  lh«ni.sdv,.s.    Inachh'- 
tion  to  rhetoric,  elocution,  history,  logic,  philoso- 
phy, grammar,  spelling.  Latin.  French,  astronomy, 
and  geography  "with  the  use  of  the  globes,"  the 
female  seminaries  gave  instruction  in  needlework, 
drawing,  painting,  fancy  embroidery,  and  music' 
In  the  latter  half  of  the  century  girls  were  particu- 
larly fond  of  botany,  which  consisted  at  first  chiefly 
in  gatherin     and  pressing  flowers  and  in  nmning 
down  their  scientific  names  by  meana  of  the  key  in 
Gray  or  Wood.     Boys  were  afforded  an  opportu- 
nity to  study  such  practical  branches  as  surveying 
and  bookkeeping. 

Such  opportunities  for  obtaining  pleasant  and 
perhaps  profitable  learning  as  the  academies 
offered  did  not  leave  the  community  indifferent. 
In  Massachusetts  there  were  112  academies  char- 
tered by  1840.  although  a  few  of  these  existed  only 
on  paper.  In  Virginia  at  the  op  -ning  of  the  Civil 
War  there  were  thirteen  thousand  pupils  enrolled 
in  the  academies  of  the  State.  Some  academies 
maintained  the  highest  standards  of  scholarship. 
Others  %vere  mere  catch-penny  enterprises  that 
grew  rich  by  retailing  appetizing  "extras,"  such 


i 


It 

t 


ll      !" 


ij 


'  I- 


114   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

as  instruction  in  Italian  or  in  some  special  variety 
of  decorative  art.  Many  academies,  including 
those  attended  by  girls,  were  practically  normal 
schools  and  offered  the  best  training  then  available 
for  those  who  intended  to  become  teachers.  On 
the  whole,  America  owes  much  to  the  academy. 
It  gave  to  many  thousand  young  men  and  women 
an  introduction  to  art,  science,  literature,  and  phi- 
losophy that  proved  an  inspiration  to  a  life  from 
which  these  elements  would  otherwise  have  been 
lacking.  By  its  emphasis  on  the  study  of  the  Eng- 
lish language  the  academy  had  much  to  do  with 
making  this  a  nation  of  fluent  speakers  and  ready 
writers.  Even  its  worst  feature,  the  overcrowded 
curriculum,  helped  by  its  very  multiplicity  to  in- 
troduce the  elective  idea  into  secondary  education. 
As  private  institutions  the  academies,  though 
frequently  subsidized  frcn  the  "school  fund"  or 
"literary  fund"  of  the  State,  were  supported  in 
part  by  students*  fees.  This  arrangement,  how- 
ever, restricted  secondary  education  to  those  who 
could  afford  to  pay  tuition  and  was  felt  to  be  un- 
democratic. Moreover,  after  the  establishment  of 
the  State  Universities,  it  was  considered  inconsist- 
ent for  the  public  to  charge  itself  with  the  teach- 
ing of  children  in  the  elementary  schools  and  of 


SCHOOLS  OF  THE  YOUNG  REPUBLIC  115 

men  and  women  in  the  colleges  while  leaving  the 
intermediate  years  wholly  to  private  enterprise  and 
benevolence.  Somehow  or  other  the  State  should 
provide  free  secondary  education.  The  solution 
was  finally  reached  in  the  establishment  of  the 
high  scIt'V)! 

Again  i  jston  took  the  lead  in  a  new  educational 
movement.      The    English    Classical    School    for 
Boys  was  opened  in  1821  as  an  alternative  to  the 
old  Latin  Grammar  school  with  its  rigid  and  nar- 
row course  of  study.    Five  years  later  a  high  school 
for  girls  was  started  in  the  same  city.    In  1826  tlie 
Massachusetts  Legislature  passed  a  law  requir- 
ing townships  of  five  hundred  or  more  households 
to  provide  instruction  in  American  history,  book- 
keeping, geometry,  surveying,  and  algebra.    Thus 
there  was  established  a  system  of  high  schools  in 
the  important  towns  of  the  State,  although  some 
towns  evaded  the  requirement  as  long  as  they  were 
able  to  do  so.    High  schools  were  also  started  in 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  soon  after  Lhe  Boston 
experiment  and  independently  of  it. 

The  academies  looked  upon  the  high  schools  as 
intruders  and  upon  the  new  system  as  a  socialistic 
invasion  of  the  field  of  private  enterprise.  The 
taxpayers  in  many  places  objected  to  paying  for 


1 


116   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

the  education  of  other  people's  children  beyond  the 
elementary  branches,  and  it  was  only  through  a 
maze  of  legal  controversies  that  the  high  schools 
finally  forced  their  way  to  public  recognition  and 
approval.  After  the  Civil  War  the  high  schools 
increased  very  rapidly  in  numbers  in  all  parts  of 
the  country  until  now  they  form  an  ineradicable 
and  perhaps  the  most  characteristic  part  of  the 
American  educational  system. 

In  the  chief  educational  systems  of  Europe  the 
secondary  school  is  not  placed  on  top  of  an  eight 
years'  course  in  the  elementary  school  but  runs 
parallel  to  it  above  the  primary  grades,  very  much 
as  our  colonial  Latin  s  ols  used  to  do.  The 
German  father,  for  exan  who  is  ambitious  for 
his  son's  career,  transfer  h  ^  at  the  end  of  three 
or  four  years  from  the  elt^  .ntary  school  to  some 
school  which  will  fit  him  for  future  success  in  in- 
dustry or  commerce  or  will  prepare  him  after  nine 
years'  study  for  the  university.  Each  social  class 
has  its  own  type  of  school  leading  to  a  goal  certain 
and  definite  from  the  start.  But  in  the  United 
States  a  secondary  school  has  a  double  function:  it 
must  with  the  same  curriculum  prepare  some  of  its 
students  for  higher  education,  but  it  must  also 
prepare  others  for  a  life  in  which  they  may  have 


.*;f  ; 


SCHOOLS  OP  THE  YOUNG  REPUBLIC  117 
no  further  formal  schooltog.  That  is  why  the  high 
school,  repeat  much  of  the  work  of  the  elemenUry 
«hoob  „hy  the  colleges  give  curves  already  Z 
duded  ,„  the  high  school,  and  why  there  i,  an  end- 
fe^s  confhc^  between  the  colleges  and  the  secondary 
schools  as  to  the  requirements  for  admission  to  the 

W      t  .s  the  price  that  Americans  pav  fo 
the    Ms,stence  that  the  children  of  the  well-to-do 
shall  be  educated  together  with  the  children  of  the 
poor.    Perhaps  the  social  gain  in  the  development 
of  democratic  sentiment  is  worth  the  educational 
OSS  «  delaymg  the  entrance  to  college  of  those  who 
reach  it  by  way  of  "the  grades." 
T*e  introduction   of  tert-books   which   were 

nor  tT'"-'^/"""  ^'"''"''  ""''"»'»»«  '■""^ 
nor  written  m  dose  imiUtion  of  trans-Atlantic 

models  became  a  potent  factor  in  Americanizing 

the  school.    Of  these  the  works  of  Noah  Webster 

were  perhaps  the  most  widely  inBuential  in  mold- 

mg  the  Ideas  of  the  first  generations  of  children 

bom  under  the  flag  of  the  Republic.    Webster's 

famous  speller  was  the  offsprmg  „f  the  necessity 

of  the  Revolutionaiy  War.    "In  the  year  178J  " 

™.te  the  author,  "while  the  American  army  wis 

ymg  on  the  ba„ks  of  the  Hudson  I  kept  a  classi- 

cal  school  at  Goshen.  N.  Y.    The  country  was 


i- 


.^i  : 


118   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

impoverished:  intercourse  with  Great  Britain  was 
interrupted,  and  schoolbooks  were  scarce  and 
hardly  attainable."  His  Grammatical  Institute  of 
the  English  Language,  published  the  following 
year,  was  a  combined  reader,  spelling-book,  and 
grammar.  The  sale  of  thj  speller  supplied  him 
with  enough  to  live  on  while  he  worked  on  his  dic- 
tionary. He  brought  oi.t  in  1806  the  first  edition 
of  the  dictionary  and  in  1828  appeared  the  work 
that  became  universally  known  as  Webster's  Un- 
abridged. There  had  been  not  a  few  text-book 
writers  in  the  colonies  but  none  had  ventured  so 
boldly  upon  innovations  nor  emphasized  the  pa- 
triotic motive  so  constantly.  His  enemies  have 
charged  Noah  Webster  with  creating  an  Ameri- 
can language  distinct  from  English,  by  simplify- 
ing English  spelling  and  recognizing  changes  in 
pronunciation.  His  friends  replied  that  but  for 
the  use  of  his  books  by  schools  in  every  part  of 
the  country  the  nation  might  have  been  divided 
by  dialects  and  there  would  have  been  not  one 
American  language  but  a  dozen. 

There  can  certainly  be  no  question  as  to  tlie 
nature  of  Webster's  intentions  or  the  extent  of  his 
influence.  The  aim  of  his  speller  was,  he  said,  "to 
diffuse  an  uniformity  and  purity  of  language  in 


I         ! 


SCHOOLS  OP  THE  YOUNG  BEPUBLIC  119 

America,  ,„  destroy  Ihe  provineial  prejudie..^  .l,„t 
ongjnate  ,„  the  .-iain,  ..iC-renee  of  dialect  and 
produce  reciprocal  ridicule."     I„  the  advertise 
ment  to  hi.  reader  he  declar..d:  -I  consider  it  a 
culpable  fault  in  our  books  that  the  books  gener- 
ally  used  contain  subjects  wholly  uninteresting 
"  our  youth;  while  the  writings  which  marked 
the  Bc.v„lut,on,   which   are,  perhaps,  not  i„fe. 
nor  to  the  orations  of  Cicero  and  Demosthenes, 
and  wh.ch  are  calculated  to  impress  interesting 
tru«,s  upon  young  n.inds,  lie  neglected  and  for- 
got™.      By  1818  Webster's  speller  alone  had 
sold  over  five  million  copies;  by  I8«.  twenty- 
four  mm,o„.    Its  total  sales  by  this  time  probably 
exceed  seventy-five  million  and  it  is  still  selling 
by  the  hundred  thousand  a  year  in  spite  of  a 
Uiousand  competitors  which  have  sprung  up  since 
Its  publication. 

The  same  patriotic  purpose  was  evident  in  the 
geographies  of  Jedediah  Morse  and  his  contem- 
poraries.   Geography  a  hundred  years  ago  did  not 
have  the  narrow  and  special  meaning  now  attached 
to  It;  It  covered  all  sorts  of  information  which  it 
was  thought  interesting  or  useful  for  the  child  to 
iaiow.   According  to  an  announcement  of  the  time 
a  good  geography  would  give  an  account  of  the' 


'  ii 


(1-3 


120    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

*' religion,  military  strength,  literature,  curiosities, 
constitution,  and  history"  of  every  country  in  the 
world.  The  United  States  received  due  considera- 
tion, nor  was  the  author  ashamed  to  make  its 
place  a  high  one.  Of  the  Americans  he  remarked 
that  "the  people  generally  are  enterprising,  indus- 
trious, persevering,  and  submissive  to  government. 
They  are  also  intelligent,  brave,  active,  and  benevo- 
lent, and  possess  a  strength  and  agility  of  body 
which  are  seldom  united  in  so  great  a  degree.  .  .  . 
Upon  the  whole,  the  manners  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  .  .  .  are,  probably,  a  medium  be- 
tween an  honest  bluntness  on  the  one  hand, 
and  a  sickly  delicacy  on  the  other." '  The  same 
author  goes  on  to  .^peak  of  "the  present  manly 
ease  of  freemen,"  a  quality  to  which  Dickens 
and  other  European  travelers  preferred  to  give  a 
different  name. 

When  the  South  attempted  to  establish  its  Con- 
federacy, it  declared  at  the  same  time  its  independ- 
ence of  the  New  England  text-book.  There  was, 
for  example,  A  Geography  for  Beginners,  published 
in  1864  by  the  Reverend  K.  J.  Stewart,  which  in- 
cluded maps  showing  the  Confederate  States  of 

»i4  Hittory  of  the  United  Slalen  of  America,  by  Chauncey  A. 
Goodrich  (1833),  p.  5«3. 


^ 


SCHOOLS  OP  THE  YOUNG  REPUBLIC  m 

W»r  tk.  •       .  passions  of  the  Civil 

War  then  rag,ng,  but  i.  c„„„,„„  „,.t^  ™ 

sharpness  on  the  patronizing  attitude  ado^dt 
European,  to  Americans  of  both  North  andlTu^ 
Spealung  of  the  upper  classes  of  Great  Britab  ,h  ' 
author  remarks  that,  "as  a  class  of  men  » 
^eriortoan,  similar  class  of  Ittr^r 
less  .t  be  among  men  of  the  same  race  in  the  States 

In  considering  the  factors  which  gave  the  voun. 
»pubhc  a  culture  which  affected  all  claL  "  f 
mo„  uniform  degree  than  wa,  the  cte^   ';„; 

t      "'"''f^  """"'y  "'  ">e  time,  the  press  must 
be  regarded  as  the  most  important  of  textCk 
Th,s  was  re^gnized  as  early  „s  .740  by  J„h„ 
Clarke  m  an  E.,a,  upon  the  Eiucalhn  of  ,W°  •" 

itT"     "^  '"■■  "'"''^'"  •■'  "dvocatedd  e  t^X 

2       "^""^  """  ""'''"^  '"  «<l<"ti„n  to  the 
dass,cs^    "By  thn  time  boys  are  fit  to  be  el  ed 
o  Cr..i„r  sooner-  said  he,  "it  „„y  be  con^^:' 
to  bnng  them  acquainted  with  the  Public  Net" 
by  makmg  them  read  the  £„„,„,  p„^  ^''^^ 


Hi 


<,    ; 


1««   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IS  EDUCATION 

other  newspaper  constantly.  These  the  master 
may  at  first  read  along  with  them,  explaining,  as 
occasion  offers,  the  Terms  of  War,  and  whatever 
else  he  apprehends  they  do  not  understand."  This 
was  an  anticipation  of  one  of  the  most  recent  inno- 
vations in  teaching.  At  the  present  time  millions 
of  copies  of  dailies,  weeklies,  and  monthlies  are 
used  in  American  classrooms  in  the  study  of  cur- 
rent events,  civics,  and  history.  Yet  then,  as  to- 
day, there  were  critics  of  American  journalism  and 
its  influence.  One  writer  held  that  American 
mediocrity  was  due  to  "the  unequaled  circulation 
of  newspapers  and  magazines  of  every  possible 
description,  as  well  as  the  variety  and  profusion  of 
other  productions  that  come  daily  and  hourly  reek- 
ing from  the  press,"'  and  drew  the  pessimistic 
inference  that  "in  proportion  as  the  facilities  of 
learning  and  means  of  investigation  are  multiplied, 
in  the  same  degree  men  seem  to  lose  sight  of  more 
noble  pursuits,  and  become  continually  more  ab- 
sorbed in  those  which  only  call  into  exercise 
their  meaner  faculties."  The  truth  seems  to  have 
been  about  half-way  between  this  harsh  censure 
and  the  spread-eagleism  of  the  writer  of  patriotic 

•  Causes  of  the  Backward  State  of  Sound  Learning  of  the  United 
States,  by  Charles  H.  Lyon  (1838). 


(  ' 


SCHOOLS  OP  THE  YOCNC  REPUBLIC  m 

geogrnphi....      It,,,  „„  „b,,„„„  ^ 

the  bluc.back..d  ,,K.|U.r.  and  „,.  „..«,p„p..,  ' 


II  ii 


M 


CHAPTER  IX 

UORACG  MANN    A.MJ   THK   AMEHICAN   SCHOOL 

Horace  Mann  i.  by  ^.-ncrul  <  onsenl  the  Kreatest  educator  that 
thia  wcittern  heniutphere  Ims  prodiiml.  —  .^.  K.  Winthip. 

HoKACE  Mann  was  the  type  of  leader  who  so 
stumps  his  personality  upon  a  great  movement  of 
reform  that  no  one  can  think  of  it  apart  from  him. 
He  spent  but  a  comparatively  short  period  of  his 
life  in  the  actual  work  of  teaching  and,  unlike  such 
educational  pioneers  as  Rousseau  or  Pestalozzi, 
he  contributed  no  new  theory  or  method  to  the 
science  of  pedagogy.    Sometimes  the  need  of  the 
yge  is  for  a  man  of  boundless  energy,  enthusiasm, 
and  consecration  who  can      ike  millions  of  men 
heed  the  truths  already  di>     rned  by  a  small  circle 
of  special  students.    Horace  Mann  was  the  instiga- 
tor, the  promoter,  one  might  almost  say  the  press 
agent,  of  modern  ideals  of  education. 

Horace  M.inn  was  borii  in  1796  at  Franklin, 
Massachusetts,  and  dug  the  only  really  valuable 

124 


HOIUCE  MANN  ,« 

part  of  hi,  early  ..iu.alio,,  cut  „f  „,,  book,  i„ 
ho  town  hbrary  f„u„d,.,  Uy  U,,,j,„„i„  ».„.„,.. 
Im.     F„rt„„.,..|y  tor  hi,,,  „  „ri„„e  ,chool,„„,t..r. 
Samud  B..rr..,(,  ,o„k  a„  i,„..r,.,i  ,„  „„  ,„,, 

month,  he  l,.arn..d  enough  I„„„  „„.,  t;,„.^  ,„ 
enter  ll,e  ,„,,ho„,ore  ola,,  „f  |,r„,,„  University, 
ah^ough  up  t„  that  ti„,e  he  ha.l  never  .studied 
clUier  a„Ku„ge.    Thi,  furiou,  era,„„,i„g,  however 
.njured  h„  health  and  c„n„H.|led  hi.,,  to  workl; 
he  re,t  of  hi,  life  „„der  a  physical  handicap. 
Indeed  ,    ,va,  always  the  habit  of  Mann  to  plunge 
mtoa  task  with  a  reckle,,  fury  that  left  hi,  nerve, 
and  h„  temper  in  rug,  hy  the  ti.ne  the  work  w„, 
competed.    ■•Work,"heonec,aid."ha,alw„; 
been  to  n,c  what  water  i,  to  a  fi,h.    I  have  won- 
dered  a  thousand  time,  to  hear  p..ple  ,„y,  •  I  i,„.^ 
hke  th  ,bu„ne„-;or,  "I  wish  I  ,.ould  exchange  for 
hat  ,  for  w.th  me,  whenever  I  have  had  anvthing 
to  do.  I  do  not  remember  ever  to  have  demurred! 
but  have  alway,  set  about  it  like  a  fatalist;  and  it 
was  as  sure  to  be  done  a,  the  sun  is  to  set  " 

After  Horace  Mann  graduated  from  college,  he 
remained  for  a  short  time  a,  a  tutor  at  Brown  and 
then  ook  up  the  study  of  law.  He  outdistanced 
h.s  fellow  lawyer,  by  the  san.e  grim  intensity  of 


vn 


],■ 


Li 


1«8   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

effort  that  had  awed  his  instrucloM  in  college,  and 
in  18«7  he  entered  the  Massachusetts  I^-jfishiture. 
A  clear  pathway  to  political  funic  lay  before  him. 
tl)t  more  so  us  he  had  the  ^ift  of  oratory  which  was 
f  1    1  valued  above  all  others  os  a  key  to  public 
!  '  h  »rs.     Had  his  career  not  been  (Jcflected  into 
"ill     channels,  Massachusetts  mi^ht  luive  had  in 
♦i"i  mother  Webster  or  unotlier  Sumner.  thouRh 
i     ^  safe  tr.  dnv  that  as  a  statesman  he  woiiid  have 
hvvn  I  s-      a.i  opportunist  than  the  former  and  of 
mv^i    ,  .aaced  judgment  than  the  latter.    But  in 
183 :,       en  President  of  the  Stale  Senate,  he  re- 
signed all  his  |K>litical  prospects  to  accept  the  post 
of  secretary  to  the  newly  created  State  Board 
of  Education. 

It  is  hard  to  say  whether  the  friends  of  Horace 
Mann  or  the  friends  of  the  Board  of  Education 
were  the  more  surprised  and  disappointed  at  his 
action.  Horace  Mann's  friends,  with  few  excep- 
tions, tried  to  dissuade  him  from  taking  this 
humble  oflSce.  To  some  who  said  that  the  position 
of  Secretary  to  the  Board  was  not  one  of  sufficient 
dignity,  he  replied:  "If  the  title  is  not  sufficiently 
honorable  now,  then  it  is  clearly  left  for  me  to  ele- 
vate it;  and  I  had  rather  be  creditor  than  debtor 
to  Ihc  title."    Others,  more  practical,  urged  that  it 


HORACE  MANN  ,„ 

WM  sh«T  mnilnfiu  for  „„,.  „f  .i,..  ■     .  , 

"•rt«m.",„idM„„„.    .■,,,,.,  "••'•""<•""»«" 
"on  which  he  had  virtually  or,.,.l"d      H      vf "'"" 


'j 


i  Si 


ii     ,i 


i'  ,m 


I  i- 


i      t 


111      I 


128  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
fairly  busy,  but  Mann  resolved  to  make  each  re- 
port also  a  battle  in  the  campaign  for  more  ade- 
quate teaching.  His  particular  target  was  the  dis- 
trict system  of  school  government,  and  his  criti- 
cbms  did  more  than  anything  else  to  arouse  the 
country  to  the  need  of  central  supervision  of  the 
local  schools. 

In  addition  to  preparing  the  twelve  reports 
which  he  issued  as  Secretary,  Mann  aroused  public 
interest  in  educational  problems  by  lectures  before 
teachers'  conventions  and  public  meetings  of  all 
sorts.  He  toured  every  part  of  the  State,  arous- 
ing and  inspiring  teachers  with  a  sense  of  the  op- 
portunities before  them  for  accomplishing  great 
and  enduring  work.  With  the  same  object  of  ele- 
vating the  teacher's  occupation  he  established 
the  Common  School  Journal  and  encouraged  the 
organization  of  teachers'  institutes. 

Even  more  significant  was  Horace  Mann's  work 
in  behalf  of  teachers'  training.  In  1838  Edmund 
Dwight,  a  friend  of  Horace  Mann,  offered  ten 
thousand  dollars  towards  a  normal  school  on  con- 
dition that  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  would 
vote  an  equal  sum.  In  the  following  year  the  first 
public  normal  school  in  America  was  opened  at 
Lexington.    Cyrus  Pierce  of  Nantucket,  who  was 


^  'i 


iTi 


■Si. 


'NABBAU  HALL  Am   TBg  #Jt«»XMWr« 

PRINCETON,  NmjSSSr-^ 


l>7  H.  DswUm.  aft*  «  *Mte^j»  |> 


ll 


I. 


Mr 


ll 


!^S    AMERK'AN  SPIRI ; 


did  111 


lu 


4«ii«»T    W  x<i  jjiiiw.-* 


\p  UmiwoK  Mk  ai  bydaiUii 


;u);    ;  n.' 


iiri 


«  » 


J:TU 


'U 


B       I 


f.    !    ' 


ft 

u 


t    1 


ll 


HORACE  MANN  129 

selected  by  Mann  for  its  principal,  bravely  under- 
took  the  new  work,  although  at  first  only  three 
students  were  in  attendance.     From  such  small 
begmnmgs  grew  the  normal  school  system  of  the 
United  States  which  now  controls  the  standards 
of  teachmg  throughout  the  country.     But  the 
voters  viewed  this  innovation  with  a  certain  dis- 
trust.   It  was  then  generally  held  that  anybody 
who  knew  a  fact  could  teach  it.  or  that  at  least  he 
could  learn  how  to  do  so  in  the  course  of  practice. 
Ihe  men  of  that  generation  were  not  perhaps  al- 
together wrong  in  thinking  that  teaching  was  the 
best  school  for  a  teacher,  but  Horace  Mann  and 
his  fellow  reformers  thought  it  wasteful  to  sacrifice 
the  interests  of  the  children  in  order  that  the 
schoolmaster  might  acquire  through  experience 
some  mklings  of  the  mistakes  to  avoid  and  the  best 
methods  to  follow. 

Another  innovation  introduced  by  Horace  Mann 
was  the  teaching  of  music  in  public  schools.  Pri- 
vate  instruction  in  singing  and  piano  playing  was 
of  course,  nothing  new,  but  it  was  something  of 
an  achievement  to  convince  the  taxpayer  that 
public  funds  should  be  used  for  instruction  in  any- 
thing so  far  removed  from  the  "practical."  All 
that  Mann  was  able  to  contribute  to  the  movement 


tn 


I'm* 

m 


I-- 


I    f 


130    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
for  adding  music  to  the  course  of  study  was  his 
encouragement  and  championship,  his  influence 
with  the  authorities  and  the  general  public.    The 
actual  organization  of  musical  teaching  was  due  to 
his  friend  Lowell  Mason,  whose  name  is  still  re- 
membered with  gratitude  by  all  lovers  of  music. 
"It  is  well  worth  walking  ten  miles  to  hear  a  lesson 
by  Lowell  Mason,"  said  Horace  Mann,  and  he  saw 
to  it  that  the  teachers  in  the  normal  schools  and 
institutes  had  the  benefit  of  Mason's  inspiring 
instruction. 

Horace  Mann's  attempts  to  introduce  reforms 
into  common  school  education  and  his  unsparing' 
attacks  on  existing  conditions  made  enemies  as 
well  as  friends.    But  it  was  not  until  the  publica- 
tion of  his  seventh  report,  in  1843,  that  the  mur- 
murs of  conservative  criticism  swelled  to  a  storm. 
The  charge  brought  against  him  was  lack  of  pa- 
triotism because  he  held  up  European  schools, 
particularly  those  of  Germany,  as  models  for 
America.     Much  unsympathetic  European  criti- 
cism  had   made  the  young  republic  somewhat 
sensitive  to  comparisons  drawn  between  the  old 
world  and  the  new  unless  they  were  wholly  fa- 
vorable.   The  men  of  Massachusetts  were  particu- 
larly proud  of  their  schools,  which  had  a  long  and 


^   It 


HORACE  MANN  ,., 

'o«,gne«.     Horace  Mann  well  un.ler!^  ^ 

.Here  I  have  always  found  the  greatest  H..;  . ' 
know  how  sWar  institution,  wT^ttr  . 
among  ou«elves;  and.  where  I  hlf  IndT 

»d  Scotland;  crossed  the  ^Z^:tf:Lt:' 
burg;  thence  went  to  Magdeburg  ni      „ 
dam.  Halle,  and  Weisscnfef  1 1  K     H    "''• 
Prussia;  to  I^ipsic  and  Dre«len     "",f '"«<'"'»  «' 
furt,  Weimar.  Eisenach  Tk  '  '  '      '""'  '°  ^'- 

Duchy  o,  Nassa^otifeJ'"^"- '»;''-«'-<' 

B-n;  and.  aUer  vi.tiJirpSarJti:' 


!f 


i!| 


I 


'I' 


I 


f|  I  !  f^ 


i   i       I 


134   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

in  the  Rhenish  Provinces  of  Prussia,  passed 
through  Holland  and  Belgium  to  Paris." 

Of  all  the  schools  which  he  visited  while  abroad 
Horace  Mann  found  the  Prussian  schools  the  best. 
In  the  first  place,  the  system  of  administration  was 
sound.  Attendance  was  compulsory  and  rigidly 
enforced;  the  schools  were  carefully  graded,  and 
each  teacher  had  but  one  class  in  his  room;  the 
school  inspectors  were  men  of  the  type  who  in  this 
country  would  be  judges  or  college  presidents;  and 
each  teacher  received  a  thorough  professional 
training.  He  noticed,  also,  improved  methods  of 
instruction.  Reading  was  taught  by  the  "word 
method"  instead  of  by  requiring  the  children  first 
to  learn  the  alphabet,  then  to  combine  letters  in 
syllables,  and  finally  to  build  up  words  from  these 
elements,  according  to  the  usual  American  practice. 
Foreign  languages  were  taught  by  being  used  in  the 
classroom;  geography  and  nature  study  were  pre- 
sented in  a  way  that  children  could  comprehend; 
and  drawing  was  begun  as  early  as  writing. 

All  these  minor  perfections,  however,  muttered 
little  to  him  by  comparison  with  the  fine  sympathy 
between  teacher  and  pupil  and  the  cordial  delight 
whirh  the  teacher  took  in  his  work.  The  classroom 
was  a  place  alive  with  activity.    Tn  Prussia,  as  also 


HORACE  MANN  ISS 

in  Saxony  and  Scotland,  Munn  said,  no  teacher 
could  hold  his  place  unless  he  had  the  power  to 
interest  the  children  and  attract  their  attention  at 
all  times.  Speaking  of  his  travels  in  Prussia  and 
Saxony,  he  remarked : 

1.  During  all  this  time,  I  never  saw  a  teacher  hearing 
a  lesson  of  any  kind  (except  a  reading  or  spelling 
lesson)  with  a  book  in  his  hand. 

2.  I  never  saw  a  teacher  sitting  while  hearing  a 
recitation. 

3.  Though  I  saw  hundreds  of  schools,  and  thousands 
—  I  think  I  may  say,  within  bounds,  tens  of  thou- 
sands—of pupils,  /  never  saw  one  child  undergoing 
punishment,  or  arraigned  for  misconduct. 

Although  Horace  Mann  mingled  his  praise  of 
foreign  schools  with  abundant  criticism,  a  com- 
mittee   of   thirty-one    Boston    grammar    school 
teachers,   conceiving  that  he  had   insulted   the 
Massachusetts  school  system,  prepared  an  elabo- 
rate attack  on  his  report.    They  accused  Mann  of 
ignorance  of  the  schools  of  his  own  State  and  of 
neglecting  his  duties  of  inspection  to  follow  his 
hobbies  and  impractical  theories.    They  defended 
the  use  of  corporal  punishment,  the  old-fashioned 
method  of  teaching  children  to  read,  and  most  of 
the  other  practices  of  which  he  had  spoken  with 
disapproval.    The^'  objected  chiefly  to  his  insist- 


m 


>if'^ 


184    AMERICAN  SPIRIV  :.s  EDUCATION 

encf  on  keeping  the  children  interested  in  their 
studies,  because,  in  their  opinion,  unless  a  child 
learned  to  work  at  dull  or  distasteful  tasks  "  mental 
discipline  "  would  be  lost. 

These  remarks  on  his  report,  and  especially  the 
offensive  and  deliberately  insulting  language  in 
which  they  were  couched,  so  infuriated  Mann  that 
he  replied  in  another  pamphlet  which  fairly  flamed 
with  indignation  that  helpless  children  should 
have  such  stupid  instructors.  To  this  Reply  to  the 
Remarks  on  his  Report  there  came  a  Rejoinder,  and 
to  that  again  an  Antncer.  It  is  not  worth  while 
following  the  long  drawn  out  controversy  further 
than  to  say  that  Mann's  superiority  as  a  debater 
was  as  evident  tliroughout  as  his  superior  wisdom 
in  educational  m&tturs.  He  not  only  was  the  victor, 
but  the  whole  couutry  was  aware  of  it. 

In  1848  Horace  Mann  left  his  post.  During  the 
twelve  years  he  was  Secretary  to  the  Board  of 
Education  the  appropriation  for  public  schools  in 
the  State  had  doubled;  two  million  dollars  had 
been  spent  to  improve  school  buildings;  the  sala- 
ries of  teachers  were  increased  by  more  than  half; 
a  month  was  added  to  the  ordinary  length  of  the 
school  year;  and  three  flourishing  normal  schools 
were  founded.    As  a  token  of  public  appreciation. 


4 


HORACE  MANN  isj 

the  Mawachuaett^  Ix-glslature  voted  Horace  Mann 
a  8p<.c,ul  co-npensation  of  two  thousand  dollars 
above  his  salary  and  also  gave  him  a  formal  vote  of 
thanks  for  the  efficient  manner  in  which  he  had 
611ed  the  post  of  Secretary.    During  the  same  year 
he  was  elected  to  Congress  from  the  constiiuencv 
which  had  been  represented  by  ex-President  John 
Qumcy  Adams.    His  chief  interest  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  was  the  anti-slavery  cause,  and 
his  political  career  is  most  widely  known  by  his 
quarrel  with  Daniel  Webster  and  the  other  con- 
servative Whigs  who  were  willing  to  compromise 
with  the  slavery  interest. 

For  the  second  time  in  his  life  Mann  abandoned 
politics  for  education.    After  serving  two  terms  in 
Congress  he  became  President  of  Antioch  College 
in  Ohio  and  carried  into  the  West  the  same  message 
of  educational  reform  that  he  had  preached  in 
Massachusetts.    Antioch  was  one  of  the  earliest 
experiments  in  higher  education  for  both  men  and 
women  and  for  students  of  all  vaces.    But  the 
college  did  not  greatly  prosper,  chiefly  for  lack  of 
financial  backing,  and  Horace  Mann's  death  in 
1859  was  hastened  by  overwork  and  worry. 

Like  all  the  great  New  Engenders  of  his  genera- 
tion.  Horace  Mann  had  many  enthusiaairis  which 


U 


ti 


1 

i 

y    i 

:  t4       .1 

if 

f' 
1 

- ) 

' 

18fl    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

ihoite  who  did  not  share  them  called  fads.  He 
hated  with  an  ccjual  hatred  ignorance,  slavery, 
drink,  tobacco,  war,  and  Calvinism.  He  believed 
firmly  in  phrenology.  He  was  as  interested  io 
institutions  for  the  insane,  the  blind,  the  deaf,  and 
the  criminal  as  he  was  in  schools  for  normal  chil- 
dren. In  a  word,  he  was  a  universal  educational 
reformer  dominated  at  every  moment  of  his  life 
by  a  sleepless  conscience.  He  was  no  fanatic  —  or, 
more  exactly,  he  was  the  most  formidable  kind  of 
fanatic,  for  he  could  wait  as  well  as  strike.  Wen- 
dell Phillips  denounced  him  for  not  joining  the 
extreme  abolitionists,  and  Theodore  Parker  ac- 
cused him  of  concealing  his  Unitarian  beliefs  from 
his  orthodox  associates  at  Antioch.  Parker  re- 
marked that  Horace  Mann  did  not  know  that  in 
morals  as  well  as  in  mathematics  a  straight  line 
is  the  shortest  distance  between  two  points;  but 
some  of  us  would  agree  rather  with  Mann  that 
the  longest  way  around  is  frequently  the  shortest 
way  home. 

Horace  Mann  was  but  one  of  the  educational 
leaders  of  his  day,  and  there  is  a  limit  to  what  one 
man,  even  the  busiest,  can  accomplish.  His  real 
importance  lies  in  his  relation  to  other  men  whom 
he  inspired  to  carry  on  and  extend  his  task  of 


hi 


I 


u 


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i 


HORACE  MANN  is? 

reforming  the  schools.   The  exc<t.|lent  pubUc  schools 
of  far-away  Argentina,  for  instance,  owe  much  to 
the  fact  that  President  Sarmiento  had  studied  the 
work  of  Horace  Mann  during  his  travels  in  the 
United  States.    Sometimes,  indeed,  Sarmiento  is 
spoken  of  as  "  the  Horace  Mann  of  South  America." 
There  is  no  more  striking  proof  of  the  <>xtent  of 
Mann's  influence  than  the  number  of  persons  who 
have  been  labeled  "  th<>  Horace  Mann  of "  whatever 
place  may  have  luen  the  scene  of  their  labors.    It 
is  the  usual  hiogrjipher's  distinguishing  tag  for  a 
prominent  Americ m  educafor.  just  ns  people  speak 
of  "the  Belgian  SI  .ike^pcure"  or   "the  Danish 
Shakespeare"  in  pa;    «g  a  .supreme  tribute  to  a  man 
of  letters. 

The  man  whose  career  most  closely  parallels 
that  of  Horace  Mann  and  whose  achievement 
were  of  at  least  equal  importance  in  themselves, 
though  not  perhaps  so  widely  influential,  wa- 
Henry  Barnard.  After  graduating  at  Ynle,  he 
traveled  abroad  and  studied  the  schools  of  Ger- 
many and  Switzerland.  Upon  his  return  to  Amer- 
ica  he  was  elected  to  the  Connecticut  Legislature, 
as  Horace  Mann  was  elected  to  that  of  Massachu- 
setts. Like  Mann,  again,  he  deserted  law  and 
politics  to  become  Secretory  of  the  State  Board  of 


if 


1 1 


138   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
Education.    While  occupying  this  position  he  or- 
ganized the  first  teachers*  institutes  held  in  Amer- 
ica and  edited  the  Connecticut  Common  School 
Journal.    Rhode  Island  also  owes  a  debt  of  grati- 
tude to  Barnard.    The  Connecticut  Legislature  in 
a  moment  of  reaction  abolished  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation (or.  as  it  was  called,  the  Board  of  Com- 
missioners of  Common  Schools)  and  thus  Henry 
Barnard  lost  his  position.    Rhode  Island  seized 
the  opportunity  to  obtain  his  services  to  organize 
its  public  schools.    Repentant  Connecticut  soon 
recalled  him  to  his  old  position  but  not  before  he 
had  worked  a  revolution  in  the  Rhode  Island  school 
system.    Like  Horace  Mann,  he  spent  some  years 
in  the  Middle  West.    For  two  years  he  was  Chan- 
cellor of  the  University  of  Wisconsin  and,  while 
there,  did  much  to  organize  training  for  teachers 
throughout  that  State.    After  serving  the  cause  of 
education  in  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  Wiscon- 
sm,  and  Maryland,  where  he  was  President  of  St. 
John's  College  at  Annapolis.  Barnard  became  the 
first  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education. 

The  great  achievement  of  Henry  Barnard,  how- 
ever, lay  not  in  admim'stration  but  in  authorship. 
For  more  than  thirty  years  he  was  editor  of  The 
American  Journal  of  Education,  which  was  really  a 


HORACE  MANN  139 

serial  encyclopedia  of  educational  theory  and  prac- 
Uce.  In  it  were  included  a  large  proportion  of 
the  most  important  articles  and  monographs  ever 
written  about  education.  But  the  expense  of  the 
undertaking  was  so  great  that  Barnard,  after  losing 
more  than  $40,000  on  it.  was  compelled  to  abandon 
it.  and  the  costly  plates  would  have  been  melted 
into  type  metal  if  William  T.  Harris  had  not 
organized  a  corporation  to  save  the  series. 

The  work  accomplished  by  Horace  Mann  in 
Massachusetts  and  by  Henry  Barnard  in  Connecti- 
cut and  Rhode  Island  was  typical  of  that  done  by 
hundreds  of  other  men  of  the  same  generation  who 
served  the  interests  of  education  not  as  teachers 
but  as  the  statesmen  of  the  schools.    It  was  an 
age   when   the   expert,   the  superintendent,   the 
administrator  first  found  a  distinctive  place  in  the 
common  task  of  combating  ignorance.     The  in- 
dividual commander,  such  as  the  college  president 
or  school  principal,  was  now  aided  by  a  "general 
staflF"  or  boards  of  education,  school  inspectors, 
and  normal  school  directors.    Many  a  small  boy 
sitting  in  a  bright,  well-aired,  warm  room  at  his 
individual  desk,  with  an  attractively  illustrated 
geography  open  before  him.  and  pleasant  memo- 
ries of  the  school  garden  or  the  camera  club  in  his 


4 


gr 


i 


140  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
thoughts,  owes  the  best  features  of  his  education 
not  to  his  teacher  but  to  some  busy  superintendent 
who  could  not  have  made  a  success  in  teaching 
even  a  district  school  but  who  could  and  did  de- 
vote his  life  to  perfecting  the  school  system.  The 
best  of  these  men.  however,  like  Horace  Mann 
never  made  the  machinery  of  education  an  end  in 
Itself,  but  kept  steadily  in  mind  the  boys  and  girls 
for  whose  benefit  it  was  all  called  into  being. 


-,-->--,,-, 


CHAPTER  X 


DE  WITT   CUNTON   AND  THE  FREE  SCHOOL 


Ten  years  of  the  life  of  a  child  may  now  be  spent  in  a  common 
•chool.  In  two  years  the  elements  of  instruction  may  be  acquired 
and  the  remaining  eight  years  must  now  be  spent  in  repetition  or 
idleness,  unless  the  teachers  of  the  common  schools  are  competent 
to  instruct  in  the  higher  branches  of  knowledge.  The  outlines  of 
geography,  algebra,  mineralogy,  agriculture,  chemistry,  mechani- 
cal philosophy,  surveying,  geometry,  astronomy,  political  econ- 
omy and  ethics  might  be  communicated  by  able  preceptors  with- 
out essential  interference  with  the  calls  of  domestic  industry.  — 
D«  Wilt  Clinton. 

Massachusetts  is  typical  of  those  States  which, 
having  a  democratic  system  of  public  instruction, 
sought  to  make  it  efficient;  New  York  is  a  good 
example  of  those  States  which,  having  a  sys- 
tem of  public  instruction  that  recognized  class 
distinctions,  sought  to  make  it  democratic.  In 
New  England  the  chief  battleground  was  the  ques- 
tion of  expert  supervision  over  the  district  school; 
in  the  Middle  Atlantic  States  and  in  some  parts 
of  the  South  the  great  issue  was  the  abolition 
of  the  distinction    between    "pay"   pupils   and 

141 


'A 


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1 


J' I 


r  >  1 


I  ! 


14«   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

those  who,  by  a  kind  of  charity,  were  given  their 
tuition  free. 

Of  course,  the  question  of  expert  supervision 
has  also  been  an  important  one  in  New  York,  but 
in  one  sense  it  may  be  said  that  the  supervision 
was  older  than  the  schools.    Nowhere  in  America 
had  the  Revolutionary  War  more  thoroughly  un- 
settled what  little  had  been  accomplished  for  the 
younger  generation  in  colonial  days.    True  public 
schools  did  not  exist,  although  a  few  parish  schools 
and  academies  had  weathered  the  stormy  time 
and  even  King's  College,  with  its  honorable  record 
of  public  service,  was  forced  to  close  its  doors  for 
several  years.    The  revival  of  education  under  the 
republic  began  at  the  top.    In  1784  King's  College 
was  reopened  under  the  name  of  Columbia  and  wa.s 
made  the  center  of  a  State  educational  system. 
Young  De  Witt  Clinton  was  the  first  student  ma- 
triculated in  Columbia  College,  and  he  graduated 
m  1786  with  the  first  class  to  receive  degrees  from 
the  institution. 

By  the  act  of  1784  a  "University  of  the  State  of 
New  York"  was  created.  This  was  not  a  univer- 
sity in  the  American  sense  of  a  single  institution, 
but  in  the  French  sense  of  a  governing  body  placed 
over  all  the  colleges  and  schools  that  might  be  es- 


% 


CLINTON  AND  THE  FREE  SCHOOL    143 
tablished.    A  Board  of  Regents  was  "empowered 
to  found  Schools  and  Colleges  in  any  such  part  of 
the  State  as  may  seem  expedient  to  them  and  to 
endow   the  same  .  .  .  directing   the   manner  in 
which  such  Colleges  are  to  be  governed."    Georgia 
had  already  founded  a  "university"  of  this  type 
and  Michigan  (when  still  a  Territory)  later  ex- 
perimented even  more  boldly  on  the  same  lines. 
But  the  systematic  organization  of  all  schorJs  into 
a  "university"  has  not  b»«>n  wid^-Iy  adopted  in  the 
United  States  and  is  nowhere  fully  carried  out. 
Even  in  New  York,  the  Regents  at  first  confined 
their  attention  latgely  to  Columbia  ColU'ge  and 
permitted  the  lesser  j*ehooIs  to  shift  for  theirwelve*. 
Governor  George  Clinton,  uncle  of  !>•  Witt 
Clinton,  did  not  find  the  educational  situation 
satisfactory.    He  praised  the  good  work  4aBe  by 
the  private  academies  but,  as  he  told  the  Legisla- 
ture, "it  cannot  be  denied  that  they  are  princtpally 
confined  to  the  children  of  the  opulent,"  and  he 
recommended  the  establishment  of  public  schools 
throughout  the  State.    The  legislators  somewhat 
unwillingly  untied  the  public  purse  strings  and 
granted  an  annual   appropriation   to  aid   towns 
which  started  common  schools.    After  five  years 
the  plan  was  abandoned,  but  in  1812  a  new  law 


•■J 


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11^;^ 


144    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

established  a  general  system  of  public  schools 
under  a  State  Superintendent,  which  was  in  part 
supported  by  local  tax,  in  part  by  State  aid,  and 
in  part  from  "rate  bills"  on  the  parents  whose 
children  attended  the  schools. 

In  1805,  before  the  final  establishment  of  a  gen- 
eral school  system  for  the  State,  a  number  of  pub- 
lic-spirited citizens  of  New  York  City  organized 
a  Free  School  Society  to  care  for  the  poor  children 
who  had  no  other  means  of  education.     In  this 
thriving  city  of  more  than  seventy-five  thousand 
persons,  thousands  of  children  were  growing  up 
without  any  instruction  because  they  could  not 
pay  to  enter  the  private  schools  and  because  their 
parents  did  not  wish  to  send  ihem  to  the  charity 
schools  maintained  by  some  of  the  churches.    The 
schools  founded  by  the  Society  were,  barring  one 
very  brief  and  unhappy  trial  of  the  rate  bill,  free  to 
all  children  and  not  bound  to  any  creed,  but  their 
control  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Trustees  of 
the  Society.    For  nearly  half  a  century  the  educa- 
tion of  the  children  of  the  most  important  city  in 
America  was  in  charge  of  a  private  corporation. 

Tne  Free  School  Society,  later  known  as  the 
Public  School  Society,  was  the  masterpiece  of  De 
Witt  Clinton.     He  was  the  first  President  of  its 


CLINTON  AND  THE  FREE  SCHOOL    145 

Board  of  Trustees  and  he  was  the  largest  sub- 
scriber towards  its  objects.  While  a  member  of 
the  New  York  Legislature  he  obtained  an  appro- 
priation for  the  Society  and  opposed  all  attempts 
to  scatter  among  church  schools  the  share  which 
belonged  to  New  York  City.  No  one  knew  better 
than  Clinton  that  the  citizens  should  support  and 
control  their  own  schools;  but  New  York  was  not 
yet  awake  to  this  necessity,  and  he  therefore  did 
the  next  best  thing  in  supporting  free  schools  open 
to  every  one  without  the  taint  of  charity  to  offend 
the  sensitive  pride  of  the  poor.  New  York  might 
long  have  remained  a  city  of  illiterates  if  De  Witt 
Clinton  had  not  been  one  of  its  citizens,  and  it 
is  but  a  just  recognition  of  his  services  that  the 
largest  high  school  in  the  city  now  bears  his  name. 
Clinton  had  also  much  to  do  with  the  method  of 
teaching  in  the  schools  of  the  Society.  He  studied 
the  English  system  of  pupil  teaching,  sometimes 
called  the  Bell-Lancaster  system  from  the  two  men 
who  claimed  the  invention  of  it,  and  favored  its 
adoption  in  American  schools.  The  basic  idea  of 
this  system  was  to  turn  the  routine  of  teaching 
over  to  the  older  children  who  could  teach  what 
they  themselves  had  rwently  learned.  The  teacher 
himself  was  like  the  superintendent  of  a  factory; 


f:  :. 


m 


10 


iii 


i'' 


140   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

his  chief  duty  was  to  poh'ce  the  estaWishment  and 
see  that  everything  went  smoothly.    By  this  ar- 
rangement  one  man  sometimes  took  charge  of  five 
hundred  children.   No  quicker  and  cheaper  method 
of  vamishmg  a  large  class  with  a  knowledge  of  the 
three  R's  can  well  be  imagined;  and  the  schoolboy 
monitors,  though  they  were  not  competent  to  give 
expert  mstruction.  were  hardly  expected  to  do  so. 
In  those  days  even  the  "regular"  teacher  of  the 
district  school  was  little  more  than  a  drillmaster  to 
keep  the  children  in  order  and  to  hear  their  lessons; 
and  why  could  not  a  monitor  do  as  much?    Many 
ingenious  ideas  were  introduced  as  part  of  the  sys- 
tem, such  as  teaching  the  children  to  read  from 
wdl  charts  and  to  write  by  making  letters  in  sand 
After  Clinton's  death  the  Public  School  Society 
found  Itself  more  and  more  out  of  touch  with  the 
times.    The  growing  Irish-Catholic  population  of 
the  city  demanded  a  share  of  the  State  funds  for 
their  own  schools,  and.  when  met  by  the  answer 
that  public  money  should  not  be  used  to  support 
sectarian  schools,  argued  that  the  Public  School 
Society  was  a  private  organization  dominated  by  a 
Protestant  atmosphere.    They  added  their  voices 
-  and  votes  -  to  complaints  from  other  sources 
against  permitting  a  private  legal  monopoly  of 


CLINTON  AND  THE  FREE  SCHOOL    147 

public  instruction.  Governor  Seward  at  last  ex- 
pressed the  popular  discontent  in  his  Annual 
Message  in  1842  and  urged  "the  expediency  of 
vesting  in  the  people  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
what  I  am  sure  the  people  of  no  other  part  of  the 
State  would,  upon  any  consideration,  relinquish  — 
the  education  of  their  children."  The  Public 
School  Society  did  not  take  its  death  sentence 
quietly.  Professing  to  fear  "the  blighting  influ- 
ence of  party  strife  and  sectarian  animosity"  if  the 
schools  were  transferred  to  public  control,  the 
Society  continued  for  ten  years  to  support  its  own 
free  schools  in  spite  of  the  organization  of  public 
schools  known  as  the  "ward  schools."  When  the 
two  systems  were  finally  combined  into  one,  each 
contributed  several  buildings  and  a  nearly  equal 
number  of  pupils.  The  present  city  public  school 
system  which  grew  out  of  this  union  is  on  as  com- 
prehensive a  scale  as  that  of  the  largest  States. 
There  is  even  a  public  university,  the  College  of 
the  City  of  New  York,  the  largest  municipal  col- 
lege in  America,  with  a  history  covering  seventy 
years  of  service  to  the  community. 

De  Witt  Clinton's  interest  in  education  was  not 
confined  to  his  work  for  the  Public  School  Soci- 
ety.   As  Governor  he  succeeded  in  securing  liberal 


I 


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#. 


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pi 


148   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

appropriation,  from  the  SUte  Legislature,  but  his 
programme  of  cducationaj  statesmanship,  outhned 
.n  h.s  annual  messages,  far  outranged  the  imagina- 
tion of  h.s  generation.    He  desired,  by  establishing 
mon.tonaJ  high  schools,  to  develop  into  a  corps  of 
professionally  trained  teachers  the  .nonitors  who 
aught  under  the  Lancaster  plan     He  advocated 
the  h„.her  edur  ,i.on  of  women.    Ho  favored  special 
prov.s.o„  for  th..  education  of  Indians  and  negroes. 
He  advised  the  crentior.  of  a  State  Boanl  of  Agri- 
culture  to  correspond  v  ith  the  county  societies 
and  suggested  "a  professorship  in  agriculture  con- 
nects! with  the  board  or  attached  to  the  univer- 
«ty.      CImton  laid  special  emph«sis  on  the  less 
formal  educational  agencies  -  libraries,  lyceums 
county  agricultural  associations,  mechanics'  in-' 
stitutes.  and  all  manner  of  literary,  historical,  and 
philosophical  societies.    The  educational  progress 
o   New  Vork  has  in  the  main  followed  the  path 
blazed  by  Clinton.' 

Clinton  did  not  live  to  see  free  common  schools 
under  public  control  established  throughout  the 
State.  After  many  years  of  agitation  the  New 
York  Legislature  passed  an  act  in  1849  providing 


-  i ' 


CLINTON  AND  THE  FREE  SCHtX)L    140 
for  the  abolition  of  all  school  fees  and  for  the  sup- 
port of  all  common  schooU  by  local  taxation  with 
aid  from  the  State  fund,  and  on  referendum  the 
people  approved  the  change  by  an  overwhelming 
majority.    But  opposition  to  the  free  school  was 
not  yet  dead.    The  following  year  the  question  of 
repeal  was  submitted  to  the  State,  and  the  vote  was 
so  close  that  the  Legislature  ventured  to  set  aside 
the  twice  repeated  verdict  of  the  majority  of  citi- 
zens and  enact  u  compromise  bill  whereby  a  State 
tax  was  levied  on  all  property  for  the  support  of 
the  schools,  retaining  the  rate  bill  to  make  up  any 
local  deficit.    Parents  unable  to  p  y  might  send 
their  children  to  school  free,  but  this  fact  only  em- 
phasized the  social  chasm  between  the  rich  and 
the  poor.    Not  until  1867,  nearly  forty  years  after 
the  death  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  were  the  public 
schools  free  to  all. 

The  fight  for  free  schools  was  one  of  the  great 
landmarks  in  the  history  of  American  democracy. 
Public-spinted  men  urged  that  the  interests  of  Ihc 
commonwealth  demanded  that  education  be  uni- 
versal. "We  hold,"  said  The  Tribune  in  1850, 
"that  cur  present  school  tax  is  not  imposed  on  the 
rich  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor;  but  imposed  oa  the 
whole  State  for  the  benefit  of  the  State."    One 


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150   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

advocate  of  tax-supported  education  declared  that 
"  property  can  better  afford  to  educate  four  chil- 
dren in  the  schoolhouse  than  one  in  the  street." 
The  workingmen  of  the  cities  strongly  favored  any 
change  that  would  abolish  the  stigma  of  charity 
from  public  education,  the  more  so  that  New  York 
City  was  already  accustomed  to  the  free  schools 
founded  by  the  Public  School  Society.  Many  of 
the  other  cities  shouldered  the  burden  of  taxation 
so  willingly  that  there  was  no  deficit  to  be  made 
good  from  the  pocketbook  of  the  parent. 

In  the  rural  districts  both  conditions  and  ideas 
were  different.  On  the  referendum  of  1850  forty- 
two  counties  out  of  fifty-nine  favored  the  repeal 
of  the  law  providing  free  schools,  and  nearly  all 
these  were  purely  rural.  The  New  York  farmer 
was  not  indifferent  or  averse  to  education,  but  he 
had  no  experience  of  the  free  school  system.  "  The 
right  of  the  parent"  to  care  for  his  own  children's 
education  and  "the  right  of  property"  not  to  be 
taxed  for  the  benefit  of  other  people  prevented  him 
from  seeing  "the  right  of  the  chiM."  The  farmer 
viewed  with  some  disapproval  the  "fads  and  frills" 
with  which  the  old-time  district  school  was  being 
contaminated.  Resolutions  voted  by  one  rural 
district,  for  in.stance,  ran  ♦hus:  "We  are  in  favor  of 


;  ,\: 


CLINTON  AND  THE  FREE  SCHOOL    151 

a  simple  and  plain  system  of  popular  education, 
without  Normal  Schools,  teachers'  institutes,  dis- 
trict school  journals,  supported  by  the  State,  or 
hordes  of  school  oflScers. "  There  were  also  the  par- 
tisans of  the  private  school  who  were  opposed  to 
free  schools;  and  one  Roman  Catholic  organ  in 
New  York  professed  to  fear  the  coming  of  "state 
monopoly,  state  despotism,  and  state  socialism" 
in  this  once  free  country  if  public  schools  became 
universal.  Neither  the  example  of  New  England 
nor  the  arguments  of  Clinton  could  convert  the 
whole  of  New  York  to  the  benefits  of  the  free  school. 
Time  and  experience  were  needed. 

The  free  school  had  an  even  harder  struggle  for 
existence  in  the  Keystone  State  than  in  the  Em- 
pire State,  for  in  Pennsylvania  the  principle  that 
the  parent  should  pay  for  the  schooling  of  his  chil- 
dren was  reinforced  by  jealousies  of  race  and  creed 
which  were  rooted  in  the  traditions  of  colonial 
times.  The  Germans  in  particular  clung  to  their 
own  private  schools,  for  through  them  they  were 
enabled  to  keep  alight  the  flame  of  their  ances- 
tral culture,  which,  the.  feared,  might  too  easily 
be  extinguished  by  the  "Anglo-Saxon"  influences 
of  the  public  school.  Thus  in  Pennsylvania,  in  the 
early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  was  seen  the 


ill 


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ir,2   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
curious  paradox  of  people  whose  kinsmen  in  Ger- 
many at  that  time  enjoyed  the  best  public  school 
system  in  the  world  working  zealously  to  keep  the 
free  school  out  of  the  State  in  which  they  lived. 

In  1834  there  was  enacted  in  Pennsylvania  the 
first  law  providing  throughout  this  State  schools 
that  were  free  to  all  as  well  as  to  those  who  could 
not  afford  to  pay.  Private  education  and  "pau- 
per" schools  had  left  ominous  gaps  in  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  rising  generation,  and  it  has  been  esti- 
mated that  in  Pemsylvania  alone  there  were  in 
the  third  decade  of  the  century  a  quarter  of  a 
million  children  of  school  age  not  attending  any 
kind  of  school.'  As  was  later  the  case  in  New 
York,  the  law  was  passed  without  much  diflBculty; 
but  when  the  ti*-  .^ame  to  put  it  into  eflfect  and 
taxes  consequently  threatened  to  increase,  there 
was  a  strong  agitation  for  its  repeal.  The  cause 
of  free  education  was  saved  by  Theddeus  Stev- 
ens, who  fought  for  it  in  the  Legislature  with 
an  eloquence  and  fiery  earnestness  that  at  once 
turned  the  tide  of  public  opinion  and  made  him  a 
national  figure. 

The  law  of  1834  permitted  districts,  if  they  pre- 
ferred going  without  their  share  of  tV    "^tate  fund 

'  Wickersham,  Hittory  oj  Education  in  Pennsylvania. 


<»»-  •-^-"•'j. 


CLINTON  AND  THE  FREE  SCHOOL    153 

to  paying  local  taxes  for  free  schools,  to  itand  out- 
side of  the  new  system.  The  norllicrn  counties 
of  the  State,  "ettled  largely  froui  New  York  and 
New  England,  quickly  adopted  the  free  school, 
and  the  workingmen  of  the  big  towns  were  en- 
thusiastic. On  the  other  hand,  the  German  settle- 
ments, many  rural  districts,  and  placis  where  sec- 
tarian influence  was  strong  and  private  schools 
were  many  and  good,  refused  for  many  years  to 
take  advantage  of  the  law. 

It  was,  of  course,  unfortunate  that  the  American 
school  had  to  make  its  way  against  the  prejudices 
and  narrow  views  of  economy  that  could  not  see 
why  a  rich  bachelor  should  be  taxed  to  keep  all  the 
children  of  the  district  at  school.  But  a  slow  con- 
version is  often  the  most  lasting.  No  one  in  any 
State  could  be  found  today  to  write  in  all  serious- 
ness such  an  appeal  as  was  addressed  to  the  North 
Carolina  Legislature  by  an  opponent  of  public 
education  in  1829:  "Gentlemen,  I  hope  you  do  not 
conceive  it  at  all  necessary,  that  everybody  should 
be  able  to  read,  write,  and  cipher.  If  one  is  to  keep 
a  store  or  a  school,  or  to  be  a  lawyer  or  physi- 
cian, such  branches  may,  'perhaps,  be  taught  him; 
though  I  do  not  look  upon  them  as  by  any  means 
indispensable:  but  if  he  is  to  be  a  plain  farmer,  or  a 


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154    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

mechanic,  they  are  of  no  manner  of  use,  but  rather 
a  detriment." ' 

In  spite  of  this  persuasive  plea,  North  Carolina 
was  converted  to  a  belief  in  the  public  school 
even  before  the  Civil  War,  and  most  of  the  other 
Southern  States  followed  its  example  immediately 
after  the  close  of  the  conflict.  The  wealthy  and 
populous  States  of  the  middle  Atlantic  seaboard 
achieved  free  education  earlier,  but  only  against 
the  strong  obstacles  of  the  well-endowed  private 
schools  for  the  rich  and  the  charity  schools  for  the 
poor  which,  between  them,  seemed  to  leave  little 
room  for  a  democratic  education.  But  beyond  the 
Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  there  were  new  commu- 
nities where  the  free  school  was  as  much  a  mat- 
ter of  course  in  the  days  of  the  sod  hut  as  in 
the  days  of  the  skyscraper.  These  frontier  folk 
could  have  little  comprehension  of  the  task  that 
had  confronted  such  pioneers  of  democracy  as 
De  Witt  Clinton  in  awakening  the  conscience  of 
conservative  and  tradition  bound  communities. 

'  Knight,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina. 


CHAPTER  XI 


THE  WESTWARD   MOVEMENT 


Mi 


Religion,  morality  and  knowledge  being  necessary  to  good  goT- 
eroment  aLd  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means 
of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged.  —  Ordinance  of  1787. 

I  doubt  whether  one  single  law  of  any  lawgiver,  ancient  or 
modern,  has  produced  effects  of  a  more  distinct,  marked  and  last- 
ing character  than  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  —  Daniel  Webster. 

As  each  new  State  emerged  from  the  western  wil- 
derness, there  ensued  a  period  of  local  competi- 
tion in  which  rival  towns  strove  for  the  possession 
of  the  various  governmental  institutions.  It  was 
commonly  conceded  that  in  the  long  run  a  uni- 
versity would  be  preferable  to  a  penitentiary  and  a 
normal  school  to  an  insane  asylum.  But  as  first 
aid  to  a  pioneer  town  struggling  for  existence  the 
choice  was  debatable,  for  a  penal  or  charitable  in- 
stitution was  from  the  start  sure  of  inmates  and 
state  support  while  an  educational  in.  'tution  was 
not  so  certain  of  getting  either.  Both  of  the  former 
institutions  would  be  a  steady  source  of  income  to 
the  community  while  the  latter  usually  required 


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156   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

local  subsidios  for  its  establishment.  But  a  college 
of  any  sort  had  the  advantage  in  that  it  gave  a 
certain  prestige  to  a  town  and  attracted  a  superior 
class  of  settlers.  In  order  so  far  as  possible  to 
satisfy  these  local  demands  the  university  was 
sometimes  given  to  one  town,  the  agricultural  col- 
lege or  colleges  to  another,  with  perhaps  several 
experimental  stations  or  farms  in  various  places 
and  one  or  more  normal  schools  elsewhere. 

Never  in  the  history-  of  the  country  were  colleges 
so  sought  for  as  in  the  settlement  of  the  great 
Mississippi  Valley.  The  various  religious  de- 
nominations, all  eager  to  secure  "strategic  points," 
were  ready  to  meet  the  demand.  Sometimes  it 
happened  that  two  or  three  "universities"  were 
started  simultaneously  in  the  same  town.  The 
tourist  may  still  see  from  his  car  window  a  stately 
building  standing  solitary  and  deserted  and  on 
inquiry  may  learn  that  it  was  a  univers't'  built  to 
boom  a  certain  suburb  in  the  vain  hop  !  ing 

the  town  in  that  direction.    The  riva^  d  'na- 

tional colleges  joined  in  denouncing  u»._  State 
University  as  an  "atheistic  institution"  where 
chapel  was  not  compulsory  and  the  professors 
were  suspected  —  not  always  without  reason  —  of 
teaching  evolution  and  practicing  vivisection. 


m'^^ 


mg 


THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT        157 

But  out  ot  this  chaos,  in  which  religious  zeal, 
educational  aspirations,  local  pride,  political  wire- 
pulling, and  the  real  estate  interests  were  inextri- 
cably commingled,  have  grown  the  fine  institutions 
which  appeal  everywhere  to  State  pride.  Secta- 
rian animosities  have  died  out.  Doctrinal  ortho- 
doxy no  longer  serves  to  conceal  educational  in- 
efficiency. The  State  Universities,  though  non- 
sectarian,  count  between  seventy  and  eighty  per 
cent  of  church  adherents  among  their  students. 
As  an  institution  the  college  is  becoming  differen- 
tiated from  the  university,  though  there  are  still 
misnomers  on  both  sides  of  the  line.  The  college 
presidents  who  went  about  the  State  "drumming 
up"  students  in  order  to  make  a  good  shov  ing  to 
conference  or  synod  inspired  an  ambition  for 
higher  education  in  the  minds  of  boys  and  girls 
who  otherwise  would  never  have  thought  of  such 
a  thing.  This  early  collegiate  competition  is 
doubtless  one  reason  why  now  a  much  larger  pro- 
portion of  the  population  goes  to  college  in  the 
West  than  in  the  East. 

The  scheme  of  endowing  education  by  land 
grants,  never  elsewhere  carried  so  far  as  in  America, 
was  an  ingenious  one.  From  a  theoretical  stand- 
point it  seems  perfect,  for  it  meant  the  absorption 


ill 

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158    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

for  public  purposes  of  what  Henry  George  called 
"the  unearned  increment."  A  newly  organized 
State  was  rich  in  I  nd  but  in  nnhing  else.  The 
Government  could  afford  to  be  generous  in  dona- 
tions of  land  which  cost  it  nothing  and  which 
would  rise  in  value  as  the  country  became  settled, 
automatically  keeping  pace  with  the  prosperity 
of  the  community.  The  income  from  this  landed 
endowment  might  be  expected  to  increase  at 
least  as  rapidly  as  the  number  of  children  to 
be  educated. 

Actually  the  scheme  did  not  work  out  so  well  as 
it  promised.  The  land  at  first  did  not  cost  any- 
thing —  but  neither  did  it  at  first  bring  in  any- 
thing. The  institutions  dependent  upon  it  were  in 
the  position  of  the  heir  to  a  dukedom  who  might 
expect  to  be  master  of  a  magnificent  fortune  some 
fifty  years  hence  but  in  the  meantime  had  not  a 
penny.  Having  turned  ov^r  to  the  State  Univer- 
sity the  township  set  ab.de  for  it  by  Congress,  the 
Legislature  was  prone  to  think  that  it  had  done 
enough  and  to  expect  the  university  to  run  itself 
on  such  a  grant.  But  a  university  cannot  live  on 
land  alone,  especially  when  it  cannot  lease  it.  It 
was  in  truth  a  royal  domain,  but  professors'  sala- 
ries cannot  be  paid  out  of  prospective  valuations. 


THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT 


150 


So  it  is  no  wonder  that  regents  Mometimes  sue- 
cumbed  to  temptation  and  sold  at  $1.25  an  acre 
land  that  is  now  worth  $125.  If  the  collegesi  of  the 
United  States  had  been  able  to  hold  or^  to  all  the 
-cal  estate  that  they  received  in  the  last  three 
hundred  years,  they  would  be  the  wealthiest  of 
their  kind  in  the  world.  The  total  land  grants  for 
the  common  schools,  which  amount  to  81,064,300 
acres  and  are  equal  to  the  combined  area  of  Ohio, 
Indiana,  and  Illinois,  are  now  worth  $500,000,000. ' 
The  colonial  colleges  were  aided  in  their  early 
days  by  land  grants,  but  the  most  extensive  ces- 
sions of  this  sort  were  those  made  by  the  Federal 
Government.  When  the  States  claiming  land  in 
the  Northwest  Territory,  between  the  Ohio  River 
and  the  Great  Lakes  and  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
agreed  to  surrender  their  claims  to  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  the  Land  Ordinance  of 
1785  was  passed  by  the  Congress  of  the  Confedera- 
tion providing  for  a  system  of  rectangular  surveys 
in  the  new  domain.  In  this  ordinance  was  the 
provision  that  "there  shall  be  reserved  the  lot  No. 
16  of  every  township  for  the  maintenance  of  public 
schools  within  the  said  tov^  aship."  In  this  same 
year  Congress  sold  1,500,000  acres  of  land  to  the 

'  Monroe's  Cyclopedia  of  Education,  vol.  iv,  p.  375. 


'Vi 


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leo   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
Ohio  Company,  reserving  Section   16  in  every 
township  for  scliools,  Section  «9  for  religion,  and 
granting  two  townjihips  for  u  university.     Ohio 
was  thus  the  first  State  to  receive  the  educational 
land  grant  and  the  only  one  to  receive  the  religious 
land  grant.    Of  these  townships  one  went  to  the 
founding  of  the  University  of  Ohio  at  Athens  in 
1804  and  another  to  the  founding  of  Miami  Uni- 
versity ut  Oxford  in  1809.    Ohio  Slute  University 
a*  Columbus  came  into  existence  in  1870  when  the 
Legislature  complied  with  the  terms  of  the  Morrill 
land  grant.    Besides  these  three  State  institutions 
Ohio  has  thirty-seven  other  universities  and  co]. 
leges,  mostly  established  by  various  denominations. 
Of  these  Oberlin  and  Antioch  are  mentioned  else- 
where.   Western  Reserve,  now  at  Cleveland,  was 
founded  in  1826  at  Hudson  by  the  Presbyterians 
in  part  to  counteract  the  Congregational  College 
of  Oberlin  which  they  regarded  as  too  radical. 
The  chief  formative  influence  of  the  Ohio  public 
school  system  was  the  association  of  teachers,  the 
first  of  its  kind,  known  as  the  Western  Literary 
Institute,  organized  at  Cincinnati  in  1829.     One 
of  its  founders,  Calvin  E.  Stowe,  was  commissioned 
by  the  Legislature  to  study  the  schools  of  Europe. 
He  came  back  enthusiastic  for  the  Prussian  system 


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THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT        161 

and  inspired  Horace  Mann  of  IMassachusetts  and 
Henry  Barnard  of  New  York  with  tlie  same  ideals. 
The  Ohio  Legislature  in  1838  printed  tv-n  thousand 
copies  of  his  report,  and  it  was  largely  through  their 
influence  that  the  educational  system  of  Ohio  and 
other  States  was  reformed  and  strengthened. 

Not  to  be  outdone  by  Ohio  the  first  General 
Assembly  of  the  Territory  of  Indiana  in  1806 
passed  an  act  establishing  Vincennes  University 
signed  by  Governor  William  Henry  Harrison, 
afterwards  President  of  the  United  States.  The 
preamble  is  worth  quoting  as  iHustrating  not  only 
the  educational  ideals  of  the  pioneer  community, 
but  also  the  style  of  legislative  rhetoric: 

Whereas,  the  independence,  happiness,  and  energy  of 
every  republic  depend  (under  the  influence  of  the  des- 
tinies of  Heaven)  upon  the  wisdom,  effort,  talents,  and 
energy  of  its  citizens  and  rulers;  and 
Whereas  science,  literature,  and  the  liberal  arts 
contribute  to  an  eraiment  degree  to  improve  these 
qualities  and  requirements;  and 
Whereas  learning  hath  ever  been  found  the  ablest  ad- 
vocate of  genuine  liberty,  the  best  supporter  of  ra- 
tional religion,  and  the  source  of  the  only  solid  and 
imperishable  glory  which  nations  can  acquire.  .  .  . 

In  order  to  support  "rational  religion"  a  de- 
partment of  theology  was  authorized  in  Vincennes 


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16«  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
University,  but  it  was  stipulated  that  "no  particu- 
lar tenets  of  religion  "  should  be  taught.  The  trus- 
tees were  instructed  by  the  Act  of  1806  "  to  establish 
an  institution  for  the  education  of  females  "  as  soon 
as  their  funds  should  permit. 

But  Vincennes  University  did  not  thrive,  and 
in  1822  the  State  Legislature  transferred  the  un- 
sold land  to  the  seminary  that  had  been  estab- 
lished at  Bloomington.    The  trustees  of  Vincennes 
brought  suit  for  the  restoration  of  the  lands,  and 
thirty  years  later  obtained  from  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  a  decision  in  their  favor.    But  the 
long  litigation  had  consumed  a  large  part  of  the 
disputed  fund,  and  by  that  time  the  rival  institu- 
tion at  Bloomington  was  firmly  established  as  the 
University  of  Indiana.    The  Morrill  Act  in  1862 
gave  to  Indiana  land  scrip  to  390,000  acres  which 
realized  over  $300,000.    This  was  devoted  to  the 
establishment  of  a  separate  agricultural  college, 
later  named  Purdue  University  in  honor  of  John 
Purdue  of  La  Fayette  who  endowed  it  with  $150,- 
000.     It  is  now  one  of  the  largest  of  all  State 
engineering  schools. 

That  the  early  legislators  of  Indiana  had  a 
complete  conception  of  the  educational  theory 
which  has  been  since  worked  out  in  the  Western 


I  I' 


Jlil 


THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT        163 

States  is  shown  from  this  clause  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  1816:  "It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  as  soon  as  circumstances  permit, 
to  provide  by  law  for  a  general  system  of  education, 
ascending  in  regular  gradation  from  township 
schools  to  a  state  university,  wherein  tuition  shall 
be  gratis  and  equally  open  to  ail."  All  fines  for 
breaches  of  the  penal  laws  and  "the  money  which 
shall  be  paid  as  an  equivalent  by  persons  ex- 
empt from  militia  duty,  except  in  time  of  war" 
were  to  be  applied  to  the  support  of  the  county 
seminaries.  But  circumstances  did  not  very  soon 
permit  the  application  of  this  aspiring  programme, 
even  with  the  aid  of  criminals  and  "slackers," 
and  it  was  more  than  fifty  years  before  all  the 
gradations  were  in  place. 

Illinois,  the  third  of  the  States  carved  out  of  the 
old  Indiana  Territory,  was  slower  than  the  other 
in  developing  her  institutions  of  higher  education, 
but  in  recent  years  she  has  splendidly  atoned  for 
earlier  deficiencies.  The  State  received  a  town- 
ship in  1818  as  a  birthday  present  from  the  nation 
and  inherited  another  township  from  its  parent, 
the  land  'district  of  Kaskaskia.  But  the  Illinois 
legislators,  for  reasons  best  known  to  then  -es, 
kept  the  funds  from  the  sale  of  these  lands  .    the 


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164   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

State  treasury  for  nearly  forty  years  instead  of 
using  them  for  the  support  of  a  college,  university, 
or  "seminary  of  learning."  In  1857  the  accumu- 
lated funds  with  part  of  ihe  accrued  interest  were 
turned  over  to  the  Sta  ;e  Normal  University. 

The  University  of  Illinois  originated  in  a  plan 
for  an  industrial  university  proposed  in  a  speech 
at  a  farmers'  convention  at  Gr.nville  in  1851  by 
Professor  J.  B.  Turner,  who,  if  not  the  father, 
was  at  least  the  fuitherer  of  the  Morrill  Act. 
The  Illinois  Industrial  University  was  established 
at  Urbana  by  aid  of  the  Morrill  land  scrip.  The 
institution  subsequently  dropped  the  "Industrial" 
but  not  the  industry  and  is  now  one  of  the  most 
prosperous  of  the  State  Universities. 

In  Wisconsin  the  federal  land  grants  for  higher 
education  were  even  worse  mismanaged  than  in 
Illinois,  yet  the  State  University  at  Madison, 
founded  in  1848,  has  now  some  eight  thousand 
students  and  has  become  renowned  throughout 
the  world  for  its  active  cooperation  with  the 
people  and  the  Government  of  the  State  in  the 
promotion  of  its  agricultural  interests  and  in  the 
solution  of  its  administrative  problems. 

To  go  through  the  history  of  each  of  the  States 
in  turn  to  show  how  they  utilized  the  federal  land 


!ll 


THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT  i5 

grants  would  be  tedious;  their  early  mistakes  and 
final  achievements  are  much  the  same,  differing 
chiefly  in  degree.  But  an  exception  must  be 
noted  in  the  case  of  Texas  which,  entering  the 
union  as  an  independent  republic,  retained  its 
public  lands  and  so  was  enabled  to  make  more 
generous  provision  for  its  schools  and  university 
than  the  Federal  Government  had  done  in  the 
other  new  States.  The  University  of  Texas  has 
received  grants  of  over  two  million  acres. 

According  to  Huxley,  "no  system  of  public  edu- 
cation is  worth  the  name  of  national  unless  it  creates 
a  great  educational  ladder,  with  one  end  in  the 
gutter  and  the  other  in  the  university."  Such  a 
ladder  now  exists  in  all  of  the  States  outside  the 
original  thirteen.  The  ascent  is  practically  free 
and  in  most  cases  open  i '  all  on  equal  terms  with- 
out regard  to  creed,  race,  or  sex.  Yet  the  aspiring 
student  is  not  confined  to  this  ladder,  but  may 
climb  others  if  he  prefers.  The  State  does  not  fear 
competition  and  has  permitted  and  encouraged  rival 
institutions  of  all  grades  to  be  established.  Private 
elementary  and  secondary  schools  8^e  not  so  com- 
mon in  the  West  as  in  the  East,  but  lere  are  many 
independent  colleges  and  universities  in  all  the 
Western  States.    Though  founded  chiefly  by  the 


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166   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

various  denominations,  these  institutions  make  no 
sectarian  discrimination  among  the  students  and 
frequently  not  even  in   the  faculty,  and  their 
charge  for  tuition  is  almost  as  low  as  in  the  State 
institutions.    Old  animosity  has  died  down,  and 
nowadays  the  denominational  colleges  are  usually 
on  friendly  terms  with  the  State.    The  State  Uni- 
versity  is  usually  willing  to  concede  that  many  of 
these  colleges  can  give  as  good  an  undergraduate 
education  as  it  can,  and  the  denominational  college 
on  its  part  is  usually  willing  to  concede  that  it  cannot 
compete  with  the  State  institutions  in  the  facilities 
for  technical,  professional,  and  graduate  training. 
So  in  one  way  or  another  all  of  the  Western  and 
Southern  States,  and  some  of  the  Northeastern, 
have  established  their  own  universities  as  well  as 
normal  schools  and  agricultural  colleges,  some- 
times combined  and  sometimes  in  different  places. 
These  institutions  differ  widely  in  size  and  stand- 
ing.   Some  are  small  and  weak,  doing  work  of  a 
low  order  and  being  periodically  upset  by  political 
disturbances;  others  rival  the  largest  endowed  uni- 
versities in  income,  numbers,  and  the  work  of 
their  graduate  and  professional  schools.   They  are 
much  alike,  however,  in  their  general  character- 
istics.   As  a  rule,  the  State  Universities  charge  no 


i 

.1 


Hi 


TH13  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT         167 

tuition  except  perhaps  a  moderate  fee  in  the  pro- 
fessional schools  and  for  students  from  outside  the 
State.  They  usually  provide  professional  courses 
in  law,  medicine,  engineering,  and  the  like,  but 
none  in  theology.  The  residence  halls  or  dormi- 
tories which  form  u  promint  nt  feature  of  the  en- 
dowed college?  are  not  so  common  and  sometimes 
altogether  absent  in  the  State  Universities.  These 
institutions  are  responsive  to  the  needs  of  the 
people  and  quick  to  provide  new  forms  of  voca- 
tional training.  They  extend  their  influence 
widely  beyond  their  walls  and  often  carry  on 
scientific,  legislative,  and  financial  investigations 
for  the  State  Government.  They  form  the  crown 
of  the  public  school  system  and  admit  to  some  de- 
partments graduates  from  any  reputable  high 
school,  giving  equal  opportunities  to  rich  and 
poor,  to  men  and  women.  The  American  State 
University  may  justly  be  regarded  as  constituting 
a  distinct  type  not  to  be  found  anywhere  else  in 
the  world. 


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hk   _iJ :■?  *      * 


iffi  . 


CHAPTER  Xn 

THE  RISE  or  THE  STATE  UNIVER8ITT 

Where  the  State  haa  beitowed  education  the  man  who  accept! 
it  muit  be  content  to  accept  it  merely  ai  a  charity  unleaa  he  r«> 
turni  it  to  the  State  in  full,  in  the  shape  of  good  citiienihip.  .  .  . 
Only  a  limited  number  of  ui  can  ever  become  icholars  .  .  .  but 
we  can  all  be  good  citiieni.  We  can  all  lead  a  life  of  action,  a  life 
of  endeavor,  a  life  that  it  to  be  judged  primarily  by  the  effort, 
somewhat  by  the  result,  along  the  lines  of  helping  the  growth  of 
what  is  right  and  decent  and  generous  and  lofty  in  our  aeveral 
communitiea,  in  the  State,  in  the  Nation.  —  Theodor$  RoommU. 

The  idea  of  a  State  University  is  older  than  the 
States  themselves,  though  the  institution  was  slow 
in  developing  and  in  differentiating  itself  as  a  dia- 
tinct  type.  At  first  most  of  the  colonial  universi- 
ties received  public  funds  and  were  under  govern- 
mental control.  The  first  constitutions  of  Penn- 
sylvania, North  Caroline,  and  Vermont,  in  the 
days  of  the  Revolution,  provided  for  universities. 
The  University  of  Ge*  .'gia  was  organized  in  ^785 
and  the  University  of  Tennessee  in  1794.  Aiiy  of 
these  early  beginnings  might  have  developed  into 
the  typical  State  University;  but  the  honor  of  being 

168 


RISE  OP  THE  STATE  UNIVERSITY    100 

called  "the  mother  of  the  State  Univeriities"  was 
reserved  for  Michigan. 

The  germ  of  the  State  University  came  from 
France,  but  it  grew  up  under  German  influences. 
The  revolution  that  severed  the  political  bonds 
connectini  merica  with  the  nother  country  also 
broke  the  thread  of  educational  traditions,  and 
American  educators  turned  from  their  English 
enemies  to  their  French  friends.  French  began  to 
be  taught  in  the  colleges.  John  Adums,  coming 
back  from  Paris  full  of  enthusiasm  for  French  ed' 
cational  ideals,  embodied  them  in  the  Massachu- 
setts Constitution  oi  1780  and  founded  the  Ameri- 
can Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  Chevalier 
Quesnay  de  Beaurepaire,  who  ca^e  over  in  1778 
to  fight  I'or  American  independence,  remained  to 
lay  the  corner-stone  of  an  AcadSmie  des  Sciences  et 
Beaux  Aria  des  Etais-Unis  d'AmSriqtie  at  Rich- 
mond in  1786  under  the  patronage  of  Jefferson 
and  many  other  distinguished  men  of  Virginia, 
Pennsylvania,  New  York,  and  France.  Quesnay's 
academy  comprised  a  graduate  school,  a  museum, 
a  press,  and  commissions  to  cooperate  with  the 
Government  in  the  investigation  of  the  flora 
and  fauna  of  the  country  and  in  the  development 
of  its  mineral  resources.     Nothing  came  of  this 


■i  t 

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170   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

schemt*.  although  the  desired  objects  are  now  be- 
ing attained  in  a  similar  way  through  the  State 
Universities  and  the  national  bureaus  of  mining, 
geology,  fisheries,  agriculture,  and  ethnology. 

In  France  the  constructive  genius  of  the  Ency- 
clopedists  was  supplemented  and  actualized  by 
the  practical  genius  of  Napoleon.  The  University 
of  France  as  established  in  1808  included  all  the 
colleges  and  schools  of  the  country  above  the 
elementary.  This,  as  we  have  seen,  was  the  idea 
which  Jefferson  had  in  mind  for  the  University  of 
Virginia  but  was  not  able  to  carry  out  in  its  en- 
tirety. It  was  the  idea  Jefferson  was  seeking  to 
realize  when  he  invited  Dupont  de  Nemours  to 
visit  him  at  Philadelphia  anv.  Monticello  and  to 
draw  up  a  plan  of  public  education.'  The  idea 
was  brought  to  New  York  by  John  Jay  and  was 
carried  out  by  Alexander  Hamilton  in  the  "Uni- 
versity of  the  State  of  New  Yon  *  which  corre- 
sponds most  nearly  to  the  French  conception  of  a 
university,  as  it  is  not  a  teaching  body  but  rather 
the  central  educational  oflBce  of  the  State. 

»  Dupont's  plan  Swr  I' Education  Nationale  dana  let  huU-Urtin. 
publiahed  io  1800,  provides  for  a  University  of  North  America 
to  embrace  primary  and  secondary  schools,  colleges,  and  profes- 
sional schools  of  medicine,  mining,  sonal  science,  law,  and  higher 
mathematics. 


i 


RISE  OP  THE  STATE  UNIVERSITY    171 

But  of  all  the  seed*  Ironi  the  French  tree  wafted 
ucroiM  the  Atlantic  that  whicli  fell  in  the  forests  of 
Michigan  brought  forth  most  abundantly.  There 
were  only  five  or  six  thousand  people,  French  and 
English,  scattered  over  thi;*  vast  territory  when  in 
1817  the  Acting  Governor  and  two  Supreme  Court 
Judges  authorized  the  establishment  of  a  system 
of  education  modeled  after  Napoleon's  University 
of  France.  Judge  Woodward  drew  up  the  plan 
for  it  and  invented  the  nomenclature.  It  was  to  be 
called  "The  Catholepistemiad  or  University  of 
Michigania."  There  were  to  be  thirteen  diduxia 
or  professorships,  to  wit:  the  didaxia  of  Catholepis- 
temia  (universal  science),  of  Anthropoglossica 
(languages  and  literatures),  of  Mathematica,  of 
Physiognostica  (natural  history), of  Physiosophica 
(physics),  of  Astronomia,  of  Chymia,  of  latrica 
(medicine),  of  (Econcmica  (economics),  of  Ethica, 
of  Polemitactica  /^military  tactics),  of  Diegetica 
(history),  and  of  Ennaeica  vphilosophy  and  reli- 
gion) .  This  institution,  according  to  the  custom  of 
the  time,  was  to  be  supported  by  lotteries  as  well 
as  by  public  taxation.  Instruction  was  to  be  free 
to  those  not  having  adequate  means.  The  *'  Catho- 
lepistemiad"  or  university  was  to  maintain  branch 
schools  or  academies  in  various  parts  of  the  territory 


i-  * 


tir 


"  1 
I 


172   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

and  some  of  these  were  actually  established.  The 
delicate  question  of  the  relations  of  the  rival 
races  and  religions  was  neatly  adjusted  by  giving 
seven  of  the  chairs  to  the  Reverend  John  Mon- 
teith,  a  Scotch  Presbyterian  minister  of  Detroit, 
and  the  other  six  to  Father  Gabriel  Richard,  a 
French  Catholic  priest. 

The  act  of  1821  relieved  the  institution  of  its 
fantastic  nomenclature  and  rigid  constitution  and 
it  seemed  likely  to  lapse  into  a  college  of  the  con- 
ventional type.  But  in  the  thirties  a  wave  of  Ger- 
man influence  swept  over  America  and  started 
what  is  known  as  "the  ef'ucational  renaissance." 
The  French  influence  had  prevailed  for  about  half 
a  century  but  accomplished  very  little  except  to 
start  the  Universities  of  Virginia,  New  York,  and 
Michigan.  The  German  influence  lasted  a  century 
and  was  much  more  powerful ;  in  the  East  it  trans- 
formed the  colleges  into  universities  and  in  the 
West  it  shaped  the  State  Universities  and  the 
school  system  connected  with  them.  The  stream 
of  American  graduates  to  German  universities 
which  continued  without  cessation  up  *'i  the  Great 
War  may  be  said  to  have  started  in  1815  when 
George  Ticknor  went  to  Gottingen.  Ticknor  was 
a  Dartmoutli  man  living  in  Boston  when  the  read* 


'i'S 


f 


RISE  OF  THE  STATE  UNIVERSITY    173 

ing  of  Madame  de  Stagl's  work  on  Germany  opened 
his  eyes  to  the  opportunities  afforded  by  the  uni- 
versities of  that  country,  and  he  determined  to  go 
there.     But  how  could  he  learn  the  language? 
There  were  few  German  books  to  be  had  in  Massa- 
chusetts, and  he  could  not  even  find  a  native  Ger- 
man competent  to  instruct  him.    He  heard  that 
there  was  a  German  dictionary  in  New  Hampshire 
and  sent  for  it.    With  such  equipment  he  went  to 
Gottingen.    He  was  followed  by  Edward  Everett, 
who  found  the  facilities  there  far  superior  to  those 
of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  and  wrote  back  to  Har- 
vard to  send  on  a  scholar.    In  response  to  this  sug- 
gestion the  university  sent  George  Bancroft.    Dr. 
J.  G.  Cogswell,  who  went  to  Gottingen  in  1815, 
also  visited  the  school  of  Pestalozzi  at  Yverdun 
and  the  school  of  Fellenberg  at  Hofwyl,  and  when 
he  came  home  he  started  a  school  on  their  prin- 
ciples at  Round  Hill  near  Northampton,  Mas- 
sachusetts.   Bancroft,  finding  that  his  alma  maier, 
Harvard,  would  not  allow  him  to  lecture  on  his- 
tory although  he  had  that  privilege  at  Gottingen 
and  Berlin,   joined   Cogswell  in   launching   the 
Round  Hill  School,  which  ran  for  sixteen  years. 
Ticknor  on  his  return  took  a  chair  at  Harvard  and 
tried  to  introduce  the  German  elective  system,  but 


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174    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

the  time  was  not  yet  ripe  and  nobody  listened  to 
him.  As  a  result  of  hi;:>  persistei.cy  some  slight 
freedom  in  the  choice  of  studies  was  allowed  to  the 
students,  but  many  years  passed  before  Harvard 
was  made  completely  elective.  Jefferson,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  much  taken  with  Ticknor's  ideas 
and  tried  to  get  him  to  come  to  the  University  of 
Virginia,  where  the  elective  system  was  established 
at  the  start. 

Up  to  1850  about  a  hundred  Americans  had 
studied  at  German  universities,'  amor^  them 
Henry  W.  Longfellow,  John  Lothrop  Motley,  and 
Theodore  Dwight  Woolsey  resident  of  Yale. 
After  that  date  there  was  a  rapid  increase  in  the 
numbers  of  American  students  at  German  universi- 
ties, where  they  were  more  hospitably  received 
than  in  the  British  universities  and  were  provided 
with  better  opportunities  for  graduate  study  and 
research.  The  influence  of  German  literature  and 
philosophy  upon  New  England  thought  was  strong, 
but  the  New  England  colleges  were  too  set  in  their 
ways  to  be  radically  reshaped.  In  the  West  the 
State  Universities  were  young  when  the  German 

'  The  complete  list  is  published  in  B.  A.  Hinsdale's  "Notes  on 
the  History  of  Foreign  Influences  upon  Education  in  the  United 
States"  in  the  Report  of  t!i"  Co  nrai.isioner  of  Education,  1898. 
See  also  Thwing's  History  of  Ilijher  Edusation  in  America,  p.  320. 


RISE  OF  THE  STATE  UNIVERSITY    175 

influence  began  to  prevail,  and  they  were  largely 
molded  by  it.  The  chief  instrumentality  was  the 
report  on  the  Prussian  school  system  made  by 
Victor  CouF"^  to  the  French  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction  in  1837.  This  report  Sir  William 
Hamilton  took  as  the  basis  of  his  plea  for  university 
reform  in  Great  Britain,  but  he  failed  to  accom- 
plish his  purpose.  At  a  later  day  the  efiForts  of 
Matthew  Arnold  to  introduce  German  ideas  into 
English  schools  likewise  proved  ineflfectual.  But 
in  America,  through  the  medium  of  Horace  Mann, 
President  Tappan  of  Michigan,  President  Way- 
land  of  Brown,  W.  T.  Harris,  the  Commissioner  of 
Education,  President  White  of  Cornell,  and  others, 
the  German  system  helped  to  eflFect  a  radical  trans- 
formation of  the  schools  and  colleges  in  the  greater 
part  of  the  United  States. 

Let  us  return,  for  a  concrete  illustration,  to  the 
University  of  Michigan.  The  Act  of  1837  com- 
pletely reorganized  the  j-jblic  school  system  on  the 
Prussian  plan,  coordinated  elementary,  secondary, 
and  university  education,  and  brought  it  under 
governmental  control.  It  stipu'ated  that  the  fee 
for  admission  to  the  University  should  never 
exceed  ten  dollars  and  that  no  tuition  should  be 
charged  to  Michigan  students.    High  schools  and 


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176   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

minor  colleges,  corresponding  to  the  German 
gymnasia,  were  to  be  established  as  branches  of  the 
University  in  various  parts  of  the  State,  and  there 
were  to  be  institutions  for  the  education  of  women, 
for  the  training  of  teachers,  and  for  instruction  in 
agriculture.  Under  thh  system  a  normal  school 
on  the  Prussian  plan  was  opened  at  Ypsilanti  in 
1850,  following  in  this  field  Massachusetts  (1839) 
and  New  York  (1844).  The  agricultural  college 
founded  at  Lansing  in  1857  was  the  first  of  its  kind 
in  this  country.  Today  every  State  has  one  or 
more  of  these  institutions. 

But  in  one  respect  the  Luiversity  of  Michigan, 
like  the  University  of  Virginia,  followed  the  Ger- 
man model  too  closely:  it  had  no  president.  The 
rectoral  plan,  though  apparently  the  more  demo- 
cratic, does  not  seem  to  work  in  America,  and  it 
was  not  until  1851,  when  the  University  of  Mich- 
igan got  a  president  —  and  a  somewhat  autocratic 
one  —  that  the  institution  became  securely  pros- 
perous. Henry  P.  Tappan  left  the  chair  of  philoso- 
phy in  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York  to 
accept  the  call  to  Michigan  because  he  wanted  a 
chance  to  work  out  the  ideas  he  had  acquired  in 
Germany.  The  first  catalogue  issued  under  his 
administration  contains  the  announcement  of  bold 


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Public  Library.  '* 

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RISE  OF  THE  STATE  UNIVERSITY    177 

departures  in  the  direction  of  freedom  of  choice 
and  graduate  study: 


An  institution  cannot  deserve  the  nan;e  of  a  university 
which  does  not  aim  in  all  the  material  of  learning,  in 
the  professorships  it  establishes,  and  in  the  whole  scope 
of  its  provisions,  to  make  it  possible  for  every  student 
to  study  what  he  pleases  and  to  any  extent  he  pleases. 
Nor  can  it  be  regarded  as  consistent  iivith  the  spirit 
of  a  free  country  to  deny  to  its  citizens  the  possibilities 
of  the  highest  knowl'  -Ige. 


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To  appreciate  the  daring  of  this  step  it  must  be 
remembered  that  at  that  time  Harvard  had  only 
three  graduate  students  and  that  the  first  graduate 
school  in  America  had  been  started  at  Yale  in  1847, 
only  five  years  before.  Forty-one  years  after 
President  Tappan  had  declared  that  the  people 
had  a  right  to  free  graduate  instruction  at  public 
expense  we  find  President  Eliot  of  Harvard  argu- 
ing against  State  support  of  higher  education  of 
any  sort.'  That  this  is  the  prevailing  opinion  in 
the  East  today  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  State 
Universities  are  mostly  confined  to  the  West. 

President  Tappan's  proposed  reforms  were  too 
ambitious  for  complete  accomplishment;  but  he 

'  In  the  famous  debate  before  the  National  Educational  Asso- 
ciation in  1893  when  John  W.  Hoyt  urged  a  national  university, 
la 


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178    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

introduced  lectures  and  research  work  and  ex- 
tended the  elective  system  which  had  been  started 
at  Michigan  in  181)7.  The  State  Legislature  in 
1851  passed  an  act  requiring  the  regents  of  the 
University  to  provide  instruction  for  those  who 
did  not  want  to  take  the  ancient  languages.  This 
was  carried  out  by  establishing  a  modem  course 
leading  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science,  which 
had  been  granted  for  the  first  time  at  the  Law- 
rence Scientific  School  of  Harvard  the  year  before. 
The  German  seminar  method  of  teaching  history 
was  later  adopted  at  Michigan  University  by 
Charles  Kendall  Adams  and  Andrew  D.  White, 
both  afterwards  presidents  of  Cornell  University. 
The  plan  for  the  coordination  of  the  high  schools 
and  university,  though  foreshadowed  in  the  scheme 
of  1817,  was  not  worker'  out  until  1870.  In  their 
present  form  the  high  schools  are  independent  of 
the  universities  as  far  as  administration  is  con- 
cerned and  are  not  supported  by  them;  but  the 
high  schools  are  inspected  by  university  officers 
and  the  diplomas  of  accredited  schools  are  ac- 
cepted in  lieu  of  entrance  examinations.  The  final 
examinations  of  the  accredited  high  schools  thus 
correspond  to  the  Ahiturientenexamen  of  Germany 
and  the  passage  to  the  university  is  made  as  easy 


RISE  OF  THE  STATE  UNIVERSITY  170 
and  natural  as  the  passage  from  the  seventh  to  the 
eighth  grade.  The  diploma  system  has  been 
adopted  by  all  the  State  Universities  und  has  ex- 
tended to  all  the  endowed  colleges  except  a  few 
in  the  East. 

The  admission  of  women  remains  as  one  other 
step  to  be  considered  in  the  evolution  of  the  State 
University  system.  This  innovation,  like  ther 
educational  reforms,  was  instigated  by  the  people 
rather  ♦ban  by  the  authorities.  As  early  as  1858 
the  Michigan  Legislature  had  declared  that  the 
high  objects  for  which  the  university  was  organized 
could  never  be  fully  attained  until  women  were 
admitted,  but  it  was  not  until  1870  that  the  regents 
decided  that  no  person  of  requisite  literary  and 
moral  qualifications  should  be  excluded  from  the 
State  University.  By  that  time  the  Universities  of 
Iowa,  Kansas,  Indiana,  and  Minnesota  were  co- 
educational; those  of  Illinois,  California,  and 
Missouri  adopted  the  system  in  the  same  year  as 
Michigan.  All  the  State  Universities  except  those 
of  Georgia,  Florida,  and  Virginia  are  now  co- 
educational. Ezra  Cornell,  in  accordance  with  his 
Quaker  principles,  was  anxious  to  give  equal  privi- 
leges to  women  in  the  university  that  he  founded 
in  1865,  but  for  a  time  he  was  overruled,  and  it 


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180    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IV  EDUCATION 

was  not  until  1872  that  coeducation  waa  intro- 
duced there  by  President  White,  formerly  of  the 
University  of  Michigan. 

The  State  Universities  and  other  institutions 
have  imitated  one  another  until  now  they  arc  .. 
most  respects  very  much  alike.  Nor  can  any 
sharp  distinction  be  drawn  between  them  on  the 
grounds  that  one  class  is  supported  by  the  State 
and  the  other  by  endowments  and  tuition.  Cor- 
nell University,  for  instance,  receives  the  Federal 
and  State  fundj  for  agriculture  and  mechanic  arts 
and  is  a  State  University  in  type  though  on  a  pri- 
vate foundation.  The  University  of  Michigan, 
which  is  here  used  as  a  type  of  the  State  Univer- 
sity, did  not  receive  a  penny  from  the  State  until 
1867,  fifty  years  after  its  foundation.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  appropriations  of  the  General 
Court  of  T»lasi>  ,'husetts  lo  Harvard  College  from 
its  founding  in  1636  to  1786  reached  a  total  of 
$115,797,  an  amount  equal  to  half  a  million  dollars 
at  the  present  time. 


CIUPTER  XIII 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA 

The  Rreateit  reliKioui  fact  in  the  rniletl  States  today  la  the 
Catholic  School  Sj  item,  maintained  without  any  aid  ciccpt  fron 
the  people  who  love  it.  —  Ankhitkop  Spalding. 

A  SEPARATE  chapter  in  this  survey  of  American 
education  must  be  devoted  to  the  training  carried 
on  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  for  its  history 
has  been  distinct  and  its  course  of  development  in 
one  respect  the  opposite  from  that  of  the  rest  of  the 
country.  Most  American  colleges  were  started 
under  the  auspices  of  some  particular  religious  de- 
nomination. Those  that  were  Protestant,  how- 
'  vcr,  have  in  the  majority  pf  cases  become  free 
from  church  control  and  usually  retain  little  to 
distinguish  them  from  those  of  other  sects  or  from 
government  institutions.  The  elementary  and 
secondary  education  of  Protestant  children  is  now 
almost  wholly  carried  on  by  public  schools  or  by 
private  institutions  having  no  sectarian  affiliations. 
But  while  this  change  has  taken  place  the  Roman 

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182   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

Catholics  have  been  developing  in  the  last  fifty 
years  an  independent  school  system  of  their  own, 
entirely  under  ecclesiastical  control  and  covering 
all  grades  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  university 
and  professional  schools. 

The  Catholic  population  of  the  United  States, 
scanty  at  first,  has  been  largely  increased  by 
annexation  and  by  immigration.  When  Father 
Jogues,  the  illustrious  French  Jesuit  of  Canada, 
visited  Manhattan  Island  in  1644,  he  found  only 
two  Catholics  —  an  Irishman  and  a  Portuguese 
woman.  In  1789,  when  the  hierarchy  was  con- 
stituted in  the  United  States  by  the  consecration  of 
the  Right  Reverend  John  Carroll  as  Bishop  of  the 
See  of  Baltimore,  there  were  about  13,800  Catho- 
lics in  Maryland,  7,000  in  Pennsylvania,  and  a  few 
thousand  scattered  among  the  other  States.  But 
the  territories  subsequently  annexed  —  Florida, 
Louisiana,  Texas,  Arizona,  New  Mexico,  Califor- 
nia, Porto  Rico,  and  the  Philippines  —  were  Cath- 
olic in  so  far  as  they  had  been  settled  or  christian- 
ized at  all.  Of  the  immigrants  who  poured  into 
the  country  in  a  swelling  stream  up  to  the  out- 
break of  the  Great  War  the  Irish,  Germans,  Poles, 
Italians,  Czechs,  Croats,  and  Lithuanians  were 
largely    Catholic.      In    1919,    according   to    the 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA  183 
Official  Catholic  Directory,  the  Catholic  popu- 
lation of  the  United  States  numbered  17,549,324. 

Catholic  education  in  America  antedates  Protes- 
♦.i  pi.  Before  schools  were  opened  in  New  Eng- 
land, the  Fr i'.iciscans  had  missions  in  Florida  and 
N  vv  Mexic  ).  The  Florida  church  dates  back  to 
1565,  almost  to  the  time  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 
By  1634  there  were  35  Franciscan  priests  conduct- 
ing 44  missions,  with  30,000  Indian  converts,  some 
of  whom  were  taught  reading  and  writing.  There  is 
some  record  of  a  classical  school  for  Spanish  children 
at  St.  Augustine  as  early  as  1606.  But  the  Apa- 
lachees  went  on  the  warpath  in  1703  and  wiped  out 
the  missions.  In  1736  Bishop  Tejada  reopened 
the  seminary  at  St.  Augustine,  but  again  there 
came  Indian  wars,  and  at  the  time  when  Florida 
was  annexed  by  the  United  States  there  was  little 
left  of  the  Catholic  colony. 

The  Indians  of  New  Mexico  were  of  a  more 
tractable  type  than  those  in  Florida.  They  were 
already  settled  in  pueblos  when  the  white  man 
entered  and  had  developed  simple  forms  of  agri- 
culture and  domestic  arts.  With  the  expedition  of 
Don  Juan  de  Onate  in  1598  into  what  is  now  the 
State  of  New  Mexico  went  several  Franciscan 
friars.    Others  followed,  settling  in  the  pueblos 


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184    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

and  teaching  the  natives  to  sing  and  to  pray  and  to 
work.  Under  such  direction  they  developed  not  a 
Uttle  skill  at  brickmaking  and  carpentry,  and  built 
their  own  churches  with  curiously  carved  roofs  and 
painted  walls.  By  1630  missions  had  been  estab- 
lished in  90  pueblos  comprising  a  population  of 
60,000.  There  were  fifty  Franciscans  in  New 
Mexico,  and  many  of  their  convents  had  schools 
attached  where  the  sacristan  of  the  church  served 
as  schoolmaster.  But  in  1680  the  Indians  re- 
volted, determined  to  root  out  the  Spanish  civili- 
zation. They  massacred  the  friars  and  demolished 
the  churches  and  schools.  Ten  years  later  there 
was  not  a  Spaniard  left  within  the  limits  of 
New  Mexico. 

In  the  north  the  Catholic  missionaries  were  no 
less  courageous  and  enterprising.  As  early  as  1635 
the  Jesuits  at  Quebec  had  founded  a  college  which 
the  great  Bishop  Laval  a  few  years  later  declared 
to  be  almost  the  equal  of  similar  institutions 
in  France.  Soon  other  schools  followed,  among 
which  the  Ursuline  convent  was  particularly  note- 
worthy for  devotion  and  eflSciency.  Laval  sought 
to  civilize  the  Indians  by  educating  their  children 
with  those  of  the  French.  With  this  end  in  view 
he  founded  the  Quebec  Seminary  in  1663.    Besides 


It 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA  185 

the  Jesuit  priests  and  the  Ursuline  nuns,  there  were 
the  Sulpicians  and  the  Reeollets  to  care  for  the 
spiritual  welfare  and  education  of  the  northern 
colonists.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  at  the  time 
when  Harvard  was  being  established  by  Protes- 
tants in  New  England,  the  foundations  of  Laval 
University  were  being  laid  by  Catholics  at  Quebec. 
Out  of  these  two  institutions,  so  founded  and  so 
courageously  nurtured,  there  grew  up  in  time  two 
radically  diflFerent  systems  of  education,  both  of 
far-reaching  influence  in  the  later  development  of 
the  two  countries. 

In  California  the  Franciscans  were  more  suc- 
cessful than  in  Florida  because  they  adopted  the 
Jesuit  system  of  segregation.  So  long  as  the  In- 
dian converts  remained  in  contact  with  the  hea- 
then population  of  their  native  villag(>s  they  could 

ot  be  kept  constant  to  the  requirements  of  the 
...Mv  life,  for  the  power  of  the  medicine  man 
counteracted  the  persuasion  of  the  priest.  The 
Jesuits  of  Paraguay,  in  order  to  overcome  the  evil 
influence  of  the  environment,  formed  separate 
industrial  colonies  where  they  could  train  the 
Indians  under  their  exclusive  guidance  and  control. 

In  Lower  California  the  Jesuits  had  started 
mission  work  as  early  as  1697,  but  in  1767,  when 


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186   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
Charles  III  ordered  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits 
from  all  the  Spanish  dominions,  they  were  re- 
placed by  Franciscan  friars.     The  Franciscans  in 
their  turn  relinquished  the  peninsula  to  the  Do- 
minicans and  entered  upon  the  new  field  of  Upper 
California,  where  Father  Junipero  Serra  estab- 
lished a  mission  at  San  Diego  in  1769.    The  mis- 
sions so  multiplied  and  prospered  that  at  the  time 
of  their  suppression  in  1834  there  was  a  chain  of 
them  stretching  north  for  700  miles  and  sheltering 
more  than  30,000  converts.     Under  direction  of 
the  padres  the  Indians  constructed  the  mission 
buildings  and  furniture  now  so  much  admired  and 
imitated.    In  these  Catholic  colonies  the  Indian 
children  and  converts  were  taught  to  recite  in  their 
own  tongues  the  prayers,  creeds,  and  command- 
ments, and  — what  was  much  more  diflScult  — 
they  were  taught  to  work.    Whatever  their  incli- 
nations may  have  been,  the  Indians  worked  to  such 
good  effect  that  ere  long  these  little  communities 
grew  wealthy.     The  annual  output  of  cattle  and 
crops  at  the  time  the  missions  were  seized  by  the 
State  was  worth  more  than  $2,000,000. 

At  first  the  friars,  being  more  anxious  to  make 
Christians  than  Spaniards  out  of  the  Indians, 
confined  their  instruction  to  the  native  languages 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA  187 


and  paid  little  attention  to  orders  issued  by  Gov- 
ernor Borica  in  1795  that  they  teach  Spanish 
exclusively  in  the  missions.  Borica  therefore  de- 
termined to  start  a  public  school  system  independ- 
ent of  the  clergy.  He  opened  the  first  of  these 
schools  in  the  public  granary  at  San  Jose  with  a 
retired  sergeant  as  schoolmaster.'  It  was  not 
easy,  however,  to  find  teachers,  for  at  that  time  the 
Spanish  population  of  California  numbered  less 
than  a  thousand  souls,  and  few  of  the  soldiers  could 
read  or  write. 

When  Mexico  threw  off  the  Spanish  yoke,  the 
missions  in  California  as  well  as  in  Mexico  were 
declared  secularized.  San  Miguel,  the  last  of  the 
California  missions,  v/as  sold  out  by  the  last  of  the 
governors  on  July  4,  1346,  only  thrt  -  days  before 
the  American  flag  was  raised  over  Monterey. 
"The  flag  of  the  United  States  appeared  ten  years 
too  late  to  save  the  mission  property  from  the 
rapacity  of  unscrupulous  greed  and  the  Indians 
from  dispersion.  WTiat  remained  was  restored  to 
the  Church  by  order  of  the  United  States  Courts."* 

The  missions  in  the  Califomias  had  been  started 

"  Bancroft's  History  of  California,  v"!.  i,  p.  643. 

'  Catholic  Educational  Work  in  Early  California,  by  the  Reverend 
Zephyrin  Engelhardt,  O.  F.  M.,  in  Proceedings  of  the  Catholic 
Educational  Association  (1018). 


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188    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

and  continuously  aided  by  a  financial  foundation 
known  as  the  Pious  Fund,  for  which  the  Jesuits 
had  collected  the  first  contributions  in  1G97. 
When  Mexico  became  independent,  however,  its 
Government  appropriated  the  Pious  Fund,  which 
then  amounted  to  about  two  million  dollars,  and 
promised  to  pay  interest  at  six  per  cent.  But  after 
Upper  California  was  taken  over  by  the  United 
States,  Mexico  refused  to  pay  anything  on  that 
part  of  the  fund  which  belonged  by  right  to  the 
Church  in  Upper  California.  For  fifty  years  the 
United  States  pressed  this  claim  against  Mexico 
and  finally  referred  it  to  the  Permanent  Court  of  Ar- 
bitration at  The  Hague,  which  in  1902  decided  in 
favor  of  the  United  States.  Mexico  was  ordered  by 
the  court  to  pay  annually  $43,050.99  and  interest 
in  arrears  to  the  amount  of  $1,420,682.67. 

In  New  Orleans  under  French  rule  elementary 
education  was  begun  by  Father  Cecil,  a  Capuchin, 
who  openetl  a  parish  school  for  boys  in  1722,  and 
five  years  later  ten  Ursuline  Sisters  started  a  con- 
vent school  for  girls.  The  transfer  of  the  Louisi- 
ana Territory  to  the  United  States  in  1804  excited 
alarm  in  the  minds  of  the  Sisters,  especially  since 
Jefferson  was  supposed  to  share  the  political  and 
religious  views  of  the  French  revolutionists.     But 


h\ 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA  189 

when  the  Mother  Superior  wrote  to  President  Jef- 
ferson to  ask  protection,  she  received  the  following 
reassuring  reply:  "Whatever  diversity  of  shade 
may  appear  in  the  religious  opinions  of  our  fellow 
citizens,  the  charitable  objects  of  your  Institution 
cannot  be  indifferent  to  any;  and  its  furtherance  of 
the  wholesome  purposes  of  society  by  training  up 
its  younger  members  in  the  way  they  should  go, 
can  not  fail  to  insure  it  the  patronage  of  the 
Government  it  is  under.  Be  assured  it  will  meet 
with  all  the  protection  my  oflBce  can  give  it." 

These  schools  established  in  the  Spanish  and 
French  possessions  for  the  Indians  or  for  the 
children  of  the  colonists  were,  however,  quite  apart 
from  the  main  stream  of  Catholic  education.  This 
had  its  real  origin  in  Maryland.  With  the  first 
colonists  sent  out  by  Lord  Baltimore  in  1634  came 
Father  Andrew  White,  a  learned  Jesuit  who  set 
himself  to  study  the  Indian  language  and  prepared 
a  grammar  and  catechism.  But  after  the  Clai- 
borne-Ingle  rebellion  ten  years  later  the  Jesuits 
were  deported  in  chains. 

A  school  which  had  been  started  in  1640  among 
the  Catholics  of  Newtown,  Maryland,  was  in  1653 
endowed  by  the  will  of  Edward  Cotton,  a  rich 
planter,  with  all  his  "female  Cattle  and  their 


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190   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

Increase  for  Ever"  and  with  "one  thousand 
pounds  Weight  of  good  sound  Merchantable  leaf 
Tobacco  and  Cask."  This  school  was,  in  1077, 
developed  into  a  Jesuit  " school  for  humanities" 
in  order  "to  bring  those  regions,  which  foreigners 
have  unjustly  called  ferocious,  to  a  higher  state  of 
virtue  and  civilization."  The  Jesuits  also  opened 
a  school  in  New  York  City  in  1084  near  the  corner 
of  Broadway  and  Wall  Street,  or  the  site  of  Trinity 
Church.  A  few  years  later  these  schools  at  New 
York  and  Newtown  were  suppressed,  '^'lis  period 
of  persecution  lasted  a  century  until  the  ^ .  v-rthrow 
of  British  rule.  In  1704  a  law  was  passed  in  Mary- 
land providing  that  if  any  persons  professing  to  be 
of  the  Church  of  Rome  should  keep  school,  or  take 
upon  themselves  the  education,  government,  or 
boarding  of  youth,  at  any  place  in  the  province, 
upon  conviction,  such  offenders  should  be  trans- 
ported to  England  to  undergo  the  penalties  pro- 
vided there  by  Statutes  11  and  12,  William  III, 
"for  the  further  preventing  the  growth  of  Popery." 
Rich  Catholics  nevertheless  tried  to  maintain 
the  faith  in  their  families  by  the  sub  rosa  employ- 
ment of  Jesuit  tutors  —  although  this  subjected 
them  to  a  fine  of  40  shillings  a  day  —  and  by  send- 
ing their  sons  abroad  under  aliases  to  the  Belgian 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA  191 

College  of  St.  Omer,  altbough  this  mude  them 
liable  to  a  penalty  of  500  pounds.  Even  the  im- 
portation of  an  "Irish  Papist  servant"  involved 
a  duty  of  40  shillings  which  went  to  the  support  of 
schools  exclusively  under  the  control  of  the  Church 
of  England. 

In  1706  the  Jesuits  founded  a  preparatory  school 
at  Bohemia  Manor,  in  tlie  most  renioli*  'orner  of 
Maryland,  close  to  the  Pennsylvania  line.  This 
institution  developeil  into  a  classical  college,  but  it 
was  closed  in  1765  and  today  its  very  site  is  in 
question.  Yet  among  the  pupils  enrolled  in  this 
wilderness  school  were  "Jacky"  Carroll,  after- 
wards Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  and  his  cousin, 
Charles  Carroll  of  Carroll  ton,  whom  every  school- 
boy knows  as  the  best  penman  among  the  signers 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

The  Revolution  inaugurated  a  new  era  of  reli- 
gious freedom.  John  Carroll,  who  had  become 
prefect  of  the  Jesuit  College  of  Bruges,  returned 
to  the  United  States  and  became  in  1789  the  first 
bishop  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  America. 
In  1791  he  founded  Georgetown  College,  which 
became  the  leading  Jesuit  university  of  the  United 
States.  The  second  Catholic  college  in  America 
was  Mount  St.  Mary's  at  Emmitsburg,  Maryland, 


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which  was  founded  by  the  Sulpiciuns  in  1808. 
America  hasi  been  the  gainer  by  every  outburst  o' 
intolerance  in  Europe  and  has  often  found  its  most 
valuable  men  among  those  who  were  thought  unfit 
to  live  in  their  native  land.  The  outcast  dissenters 
of  England  founded  New  England.  The  Hugue- 
nots from  France  have  given  to  America  many  of 
her  foremost  men  of  science.  So  likewise,  when 
the  Catholic  churches  and  schools  were  suppressed 
by  the  French  Revolution,  the  expelled  clergy  gave 
a  great  impetus  to  Catholic  education  in  the 
United  States. 

The  Society  of  St.  Sulpice,  which  had  been 
founded  in  Paris  in  1642  for  the  education  of 
ecclesiastics,  was  among  the  victims  of  the  French 
Revolution.  Four  of  ihe  Sulpicians  came  to  Balti- 
more in  1791.  One  of  them,  Father  Flaget,  later 
became  the  first  bishop  in  Kentucky.  Another, 
Father  Richard,  went  to  Detroit,  where  he  set  up 
the  first  press  there,  printed  the  first  newspaper, 
and  took  part  in  the  foimding  of  the  University 
of  Michigan,  the  "  Catholepistemiad "  already 
described.  A  third,  the  Reverend  William  Du- 
bourg,  became  president  of  Georgetown  Academy, 
founded  St.  Mary's  Seminary  at  Baltimore,  and, 
when  he  became  Bishop  of  Louisiana  in  1815, 


f  il 


CATHOLI     EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA  193 

brought   over    six    religiuus    onlcrs    for    pioneer 
educational  work  west  of  the  Mississippi. 

St.  Mory's,  Baltimore,  was  at  first  a  failure. 
In  1791  it  started  with  five  students  hut  in  a  few 
years  the  attendance  fell  to  none.  When  Nopo- 
leon  restored  the  Church,  Father  Emery,  Supe- 
rior General  of  the  Sulpicians,  determined  to  call  all 
the  fathers  back  to  France.  But  Bishop  Carroll 
begged  him  to  allow  them  to  remain.  The  (jues- 
tion  was  therefore  referred  to  Pope  Pius  \^I.  The 
Pope  in  his  wisdom  said  to  Father  Emery:  "My 
son,  let  that  seminary  remain.  It  will  bear  fruit 
in  its  own  time."  The  Pope's  faith  was  eventu- 
ally fulfilled,  for  St.  Mary's  became  the  largest 
and  most  influential  of  Catholic  seminaries  and  by 
1910  had  supplied  over  1800  priests  an  10  bishops 
to  the  Church  in  America.  The  founder  of  St. 
Mary's,  Father  Dubourg,  while  on  a  visit  to  New 
York  met  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Ann  Seton,  a  widow  who 
had  been  converted  to  Catholicism  and  was  zealous 
for  service  in  her  new  faith.  Father  Dubourg 
induced  her  to  come  to  Maryland  to  start  a  school 
for  girls.  Joined  by  other  pious  women,  she 
formed  in  1809  an  organization  of  Sisters  of  Char- 
ity on  a  farm  near  Emmitsburg.  Later  on  it  was 
decided    to  affiliate  with    the  French  Sisters  of 


m 


m 

,.'■■  * 

(      V.      ' 

t:: . 


i  i 


104   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

Charity  of  St.  Vituvnt  de  Pnul.  The  order  grew 
rapidly  und  by  1850  hud  e.«*tublij.l»ed  fifty-eiuht 
schools  in  various  States. 

The  Sisters  of  the  Visitation,  another  widespread 
teaching  order  of  women,  started  in  America  at 
about  the  same  limt  and  place.  A  young  Irish 
lady,  Miss  Alice  Lalor,  eume  with  two  widows  to 
Georgetown  in  179J)  at  the  invitation  of  Fat'»er 
Neule,  President  of  (Jeorgetown  College,  to  open  a 
school  for  girls  which  subsequently  developed  into 
a  convent  and  Jicademy  of  the  Visitation  Order  of 
St.  Francis  de  Sales. 

Next  to  Maryland,  Pennsylvania  had  the  largest 
Cutliolic  population  in  colonial  days,  for  the  Quak- 
ers were  more  tolerant  than  the  Episcopalians  or 
the  Puritans.  While  the  Catholics  met  with  per- 
secution in  Maryland,  they  found  full  religions 
freedom  und  even  sympathy  on  the  Pennsylvania 
side  of  the  line.  Protestants  aided  in  building 
Father  Sihneider's  first  church  ot  Goshenhoppen 
und  sent  lijoir  children  to  t!io  school  that  he  opened 
in  1741  in  a  two-story  frame  house.  It  was  indeed 
an  opijort  unity  not  to  be  neglected,  for  there  was 
no  other  school  in  the  settlement  and  it  is  not  every 
child  who  can  learn  his  A  B  C's  from  a  former 
Rector  Magnificus  of  Heidelberg  University,  as 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA  105 
wtw  the  Rcvereinl  Iheodort'  Scluu'idtT.  In  Phila- 
delphia in  1781  St.  Mury's  parish  hoii^ht  un  ohi 
Quaker  schoolhouse  and  ojK'ned  tht-n-in  I  he  mother 
school  of  all  the  Catholic  parochial  mIjooI.s  in  the 
EnRlish-speaking  States. 

One  of  the  four  French  Sulpicians  who  catnc  to 
Baltimore  in  1791  was  Stephen  Theodore  Badin, 
the  first  priest  to  be  ordained  within  tiie  thirteen 
original  States,     He  was  sent  immediately  after- 
vard  to  the  "dark  and  bloody  groun<r*  of  Ken- 
tucky, although  he  was  only  twenty-five  years  old 
and  knew  but  a  few  words  of  English.     Here  he 
labored  alone  for  fourteen  years,  an  austere  and 
indefatigable  priest,  living  largely  in  the  saddle  as 
he  visited  the  widely  scattered  families.     He  was 
joined  in  1806  by  the  saintly  Father  Xerinckx  who 
had  been  educated  at  the  Belgian  universities  of 
Louvain  and  Malines  and  had  been  driven  out 
by  the  Revolution.     Father  Nerinckx  was  a  true 
mystic  from  the  Land  of  Mystics  but  withal  practi- 
cal, and  he  found  in  the  Kentucky  wilderness  a 
fertile  field.    He  was  strong  enough  to  roll  logs  for 
his  own  churches  and  to  master  a  bully  single- 
handed.    He  and  Father  Badin  built  at  Bardstown 
the  log  cabin,  sixteen  feet  square,  which  served  in 
1811  as  the  episcopal  palace  for  the  reception  of 


t' 


11 


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1.  ^ 


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196   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

Bishop  Flaget,  whose  see  embraced  the  whole 
northwestern  territory  of  the  United  States  al- 
though it  contained  only  a  thousand  Catholic 
families.  In  1812  Father  Nerinckx  got  together  a 
group  of  women  willing  to  devote  their  lives  to  the 
Christian  training  of  girls  and  he  organized  them  at 
Little  Loretto  as  "The  Society  of  the  Friends  of 
Mary  Sorrowing  at  the  Foot  of  the  Cross  of  Our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  The  order  is  commonly 
known  as  the  "Sisters  of  Loretto,"  from  the  Santa 
Casa  or  Holy  House  in  Nazareth  where  the  Virgin 
Mary  was  bom  and  which,  according  to  tradition, 
had  been  carried  away  by  angels  in  1291  and  placed 
first  in  Dalmatia  and  later  at  Loretto,  Italy.  Miss 
Anne  Rhodes,  the  first  superioress  of  the  com- 
munity, provided  the  funds  for  its  establishment 
by  the  donation  of  a  slave  who  was  sold  by  Father 
Nerinckx  for  $450.  The  Lorettines,  inspired  by 
the  zeal  of  their  founder,  increased  their  numbers 
and  colonized  until  within  a  dozen  years  they  had 
six  schools  containing  250  girls. 

Two  other  teaching  communities  of  women  origi- 
nated in  Kentucky  at  this  time.  Father  David,  a 
Sulpician  who  came  with  Bishop  Flaget,  organized 
the  Sisters  of  Charity  of  Nazareth  near  Bards- 
town.    The  Dominican  Father  Wilson  organized 


it 


i    I 


.Jl. 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA  197 

the  Sisters  of  St.  Dominic  at  St.  Rose.  These  three 
communities  spread  rapidly  through  Kentucky, 
Missouri,  and  Arkansas.  As  the  country  became 
more  settled,  they  established  convent  schools  for 
l?irls  in  other  Western  States. 

In  New  York  up  to  1822  the  Catholic  schools  of 
the  parishes  of  St.  Peter's  and  St.  Patrick's  re- 
ceived, like  the  schools  of  other  denominations,  a 
part  of  the  public  school  funds.  After  that  the 
Public  School  Society  took  charge  of  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  funds  and  stopped  the  appr  jpriation  to 
sectarian  schools.  In  1840  Bishop  Hughes  of  New 
York  made  a  hard  fight  for  a  share  in  the  public 
funds,  but  he  was  beaten.  He  then  declared  that 
"the  days  have  come  and  the  place  in  which  the 
school  is  more  necessary  than  the  church"  and  set 
out  to  establish  an  independent  school  system 
under  church  control.  In  this  he  wsis  so  successful 
that,  before  his  death,  nearly  every  church  in  New 
York  had  been  provided  with  a  parish  school. 

These  were  the  days  of  the  "no  Popery"  agi- 
tation when  "Native  Americans"  and  Irish  fought 
in  the  streets  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  over 
the  relative  merits  of  the  Douay  and  King  James's 
versions  of  the  Bible,  although  many  of  the  bel- 
ligerents doubtless  could  not  have  told  the  two 


m 


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V.     f 


198   AMERTOJ^  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

books  apart.  The  Catholics  objected  to  the  cus- 
tom of  holding  devotional  exercises  in  the  Protes- 
tant form  at  the  opening  of  school  sessions.  The 
Protestants,  on  the  other  hand,  were  alarmed  at 
the  rapid  influx  of  large  numbers  of  Irish  and  Ger- 
man Catholics  and  feared  the  overthrow  of  the 
free  public  school  system  which  was  their  country's 
pride.  The  outcome  of  the  conflict  was  a  clean-cut 
separation  of  public  and  sectarian  schools.  Bible- 
reading,  hynms,  and  prayers  have  been  almost 
altogether  eliminated  from  the  public  schools. 
This  exclusion,  however,  does  not  make  the  schools 
acceptable  tc  \e  Catholics  and  Lutherans  who 
believe  that  r  >us  training  cannot  safely  be  di- 
vorced from  s'  15  r  education.  Wherever  possible, 
therefore,  they  .  /e  established  their  own  schools. 
The  First  Provincial  Council  of  Baltimore  de- 
clared in  1829:  "We  deem  it  entirely  necessary  that 
schools  should  be  established,  in  which  the  young, 
while  they  be  taught  letters,  should  also  be  taught 
the  principles  of  faith  and  morals."  But  this  and 
subsequent  recommendations  had  no  very  marked 
effect,  and  Catholic  schools  were  not  common  until 
after  1884,  when  the  Third  Plenary  Council  of 
Baltimore  ordered  a  parochial  school  to  be  erected 
near  each  church  within  two  years  and  threatened 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA  199 

with  removal  any  priest  who  neglected  this  com- 
mand. The  Council  further  decreed  that  "all 
Catholic  parents  are  bound  to  send  their  children 
to  the  parochial  schools,  unless  either  at  home  or  in 
other  Catholic  school,  they  may  sufficiently  and 
evidently  provide  for  the  Christian  education  of 
theu-  children  or  unless  it  be  lawful  to  send  them  to 
other  schools  on  account  of  a  sufficient  cause  ap- 
proved by  the  bishop  and  with  opportune  cautions 
and  remedies." 

The  Pastoral  Letter  of  the  Third  Plenary  Coun- 
cil declared  that  "the  public  school  system  is 
controlled  absolutely   by  Protestants,  conducted 
on  Protestant  principles  and  made  an  instrument 
for  debauchmg   the   faith   of   Catholic   chUdren 
who  enter  the  walls  of  state  institutions/*    Many 
Catholics  of  that  period  went  so  far  as  to  deny  the 
right  of  the  State  to  any  share  in  education.    They 
asserted,  for  instance,  that  "education  is  none  of 
the  state's  business,"  and  referred  to  "this  infidel, 
dishonest,  oppressive  and  un-American  system  of 
state  education."'   They  declared  that  "education 
itself  is  the  business  of  the  spiritual  society  alone, 
not  of  secular  society.    The  instruction  of  children 
and  youth  is  included  in  the  Sacrament  of  Orders 

'  American  Catholic  Quarterly,  April,  1884,  p.  245. 


ii\ 


I 


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too  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 


■.  !  ■ 


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i  i 

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and  the  State  usurps  the  functions  of  the  spiritual 
society  when  it  turns  educator."' 

But  this  extreme  view  received  a  heavy  blow 
in  1891  from  the  Reverend  Thomas  Bouquillon, 
Professor  of  Moral  Theology  in  the  Catholic  Uni- 
versity at  Washington,  in  a  pamphlet  entitled 
Education:  To  Whom  Does  It  Belong?  In  this  he 
established  by  abundant  citations  from  the  church 
authorities  themselves  that  "education  belongs  to 
individuals  isolated  and  collected,  to  the  family, 
to  the  state,  to  the  church:  to  these  four  together, 
to  none  of  them  exclusively.  Such  is  the  theoreti- 
cal doctrine.  The  practical  application  of  it  de- 
mands the  combination,  more  or  less  harmonious, 
of  these  four  interested  parties  in  the  work  of  the 
schools." 

Though  Dr.  Bouquillon's  contention  that  the 
State  had  some  rights  in  education  raised  a  storm 
of  opposition  from  more  rigorous  CathoUcs,  his 
view  gradually  gained  ground.  In  consequence 
the  earlier  attitude  of  into'  and  hostility 

toward  the  public  school  has  become  much  amelio- 
rated. In  spite  of  the  rapid  growth  of  the  parish 
school  system,  about  half  of  the  Catholic  children 
now  attend  the  public  schools,  and  sometimes  more 

>  The  Tablet;  quoted  in  Putnam'*  Magazine,  December,  I8G9. 


'  III 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA  201 

than  hal'  of  the  ^^achers  in  the  public  schools  are 
Catholic  women.  In  one  of  our  great  cities  the 
percentage  of  Catholic  teachers  has  risen  as  high 
as  85  per  cent.' 

Two  notable  attempts  —  known  as  the  "Pough- 
keepsie  Plan"  and  the  "Faribault  Plan"  — have 
been  made  to  throw  part  of  the  burden  of  the  sup- 
port of  the  Catholic  schools  upon  the  State.    At 
Poughkeepsie,  New  York,  the  city  school  board  in 
1873  took  over  two  Catholic  schools  for  a  nominal 
rental  and  employed  the  same  nuns  as  teachers. 
The  arrangement  lasted  till   1899,  when  it  was 
decided  to  be  unconstitutional.     In  1891  a  similar 
plan,  devised  by  Archbishop  Ireland,  was  put  into 
effect  at  Faribault  and  Stillwater,  Minnesota.  The 
parish  school  buildings  were  leased  for  a  year  to  the 
state  authorities.    The  same  teachers,  belonging  to 
the  order  of  St.  Dominic,  were  retained  and  received 
$50  a  month  from  the  public  school  board  in  place 
of  their  former  small  compensation.    After  hear- 
ing mass  in  the  parish  church,  the  children  were 
marched  into  the  classrooms.     After  school  closed 
in  the  afternoon  they  were  instructed  in  the  cate- 
chism for  one  hour.     No  text-books  to  which  the 
Archbishop  objected  were  to  be  used. 

•  Proceedings,  Catholic  Educational  Association  (1917),  p.  «34. 


S     t  ■  i  i 


!   f         1 


202    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 


^  :  r' 


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!  1 


But  the  Faribault  attempt  at  compromise  was 
attacked  from  both  the  Protestant  and  Catholic 
sides  as  virtual  surrender  to  the  opposition.  The 
German  Catholic  press  was  virulent  in  its  criticism 
of  Archbishop  Ireland, '  and  his  opponents  carried 
the  question  up  to  Rome.  The  decision,  Tolerari 
potest,  of  the  Pope  and  Propaganda,  delivered  on 
April  21,  1892,  declared  that,  "while  the  decrees  of 
the  Baltimore  Councils  on  parochial  schools  are 
maintained  in  full  vigor,  the  arrangement  entered 
into  by  the  Most  Reverend  John  Ireland  as  to  the 
schools  of  Faribault  and  Stillwater,  all  things  con- 
sidered, can  be  tolerated."  This  decision  gave 
little  satisfaction  to  either  party  and  did  not  en- 
courage the  continuation  of  such  efforts  to  combine 
the  parochial  and  public  school  systems. 

After  the  two  organizations  agreed  to  keep  apart 
they  got  on  better  together.  The  habit  of  the 
sisterhoods  is  now  commonly  seen  on  the  campus 
of  State  Universities  or  institutions  of  Protestant 
foundation,  and  the  convent  schools  contain  many 
girls  from  Protestant  or  Hebrew  families.  The  Cath- 
olic high  schools  voluntarily  submit  to  inspection 

<  For  instance  the  Buffalo  Chrittliehe  Welt  of  October  0.  1801, 
■aid:  "If  the  Devil  and  his  grandmother  can  enjoy  themselves  at 
all  they  must  have  danced  a  real  Irish  jig  when  the  parochial 
school  at  Faribault  was  given  over  to  the  State 


Hi: 


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■i   'i 


t     ) 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA  «0S 

from  the  State  University  authorities  in  order 
to  qualify  as  accredited  schools  which  have  the 
privilege  of  sending  their  graduates  to  the  State 
Universities  without  examination  at  entrance. 
About  half  of  the  graduates  of  Catholic  high 
schools  who  enter  college  go  to  non-Catholic  insti- 
tutions. About  two-thirds  of  the  Catholic  girls 
who  seek  secondary  education  are  in  non-Catholic 
institutions.'  The  oflScial  Catholic  Directory  for 
1919  reports  5788  parish  schools  with  1,633,599 
children  attending.  There  are  215  Catholic  col- 
leges for  boys  and  674  academies  for  girls.  But  in 
considering  these  figures  it  is  necessary  to  note 
that  "many  of  these  so-called  colleges  have  never 
had  a  single  college  student"  and  only  84  have 
any  students  above  the  high  school  grade.'  The 
rivalry  between  the  different  dioceses  and  teaching 
orders  has  had  the  same  eflFect  as  the  rivalry  be- 
tween the  different  towns  and  Protestant  sects  in 
leading  to  an  excessive  multiplication  of  weak  apd 
inadequate  colleges. 

The  efforts  of  Catholic  educators  are  now  be- 
ing dirt  ted  toward  raising  the  standard  of  their 


■  Burns,  Catholic  Education,  1917. 

'  Reverend  W.  J.  Bergin  in  Proceedings  of  the  Catholic  Educa- 
tional Auoeiation,  1917.  p.  62. 


*r 


i  * 


''fi< 


^  ! 


804    VMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

institutions  to  make  them  true  to  their  name  and 
better  able  to  meet  the  demands  of  modem  life. 
In  this  movement  the  Catholic  University  of 
America  at  Washington  has  taken  a  leading  part. 
This  institution  was  established  in  1887  by  Pope 
Leo  Xin  in  the  Apostolic  Letter  Magni  nobis 
gaudii  and  includes  a  School  of  Science  with  en- 
gineering courses,  as  well  as  Schools  of  Sacred, 
Philosophical,  and  Social  Sciences.  Located  near 
it  and  affiliated  with  it  are  houses  of  the  Paulist 
Fathers,  Marists,  Franciscans,  Sulpicians,  Domin- 
icans, and  other  orders.  The  University  conduct;, 
a  summer  school  for  Catholic  women  teachers 
and  corrects  the  examination  papers  of  the  160 
Catholic  high  schools  accepting  its  standard 
curriculum. 

In  establishing  and  supporting  its  independent 
educational  system  from  the  primary  school  to  the 
graduate  university,  the  Catholic  Church  has  had 
the  advantage  of  being  able  to  command  the  serv- 
ices of  some  forty  thousand  men  and  women  of 
religious  orders  who  devote  themselves  to  teaching 
on  less  than  half  the  salary  of  public  school  teachers. 
Nine-tenths  of  the  teachers  in  the  Catholic  schools 
and  colleges  belong  to  religious  orders  or  institutes. 
The  Jesuits  have  the  most  colleges,  the  Benedictines 


i!i 


:|i 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA  «05 

next,  and  the  Christian  Brother  third.  The  last 
named,  the  Institute  of  Brothers  of  the  Chris- 
tian Schools,  is  a  society  of  teachers  not  taking 
Holy  Orders,  founded  at  Rheims  in  1680  by  St. 
Jean  Baptiste  de  La  Salle.  In  order  not  to  come 
into  competition  with  the  Jesuits  the  Christian 
Brothers  were  forbidden  to  teach  Latin.  This 
restricted  them  to  a  less  fashionable  and  less  profit- 
able field,  but  the  whirligig  of  time  has  tended  to 
reverse  the  advantage,  for  today  in  the  United 
States  classical  education  is  less  in  demand  than 
English  and  engineering  courses. 

The  segregation  of  the  sexes  above  the  elemen- 
tary grades  is  a  feature  of  Catholic  education 
that  distinguishes  it  from  the  prevailing  American 
practice.  The  Reverend  Francis  Cassilly,  S.  J., 
of  St.  Xavier  College,  Cincinnati,  says':  "Co- 
education and  female  teaching  in  boys'  high  schools 
are  radically  wrong  from  a  pedagogical,  a  civil,  and 
a  religious  standpoint." 

An  important  field  of  the  Catholic  schools  in  the 
past  has  been  in  the  education  of  the  chfldren  of 
immigrants,  and  for  this  reason  the  instruction 
has  often  been  given  in  foreign  tongues  and  by 

'Bulletin  Catholic  Educational  Atsociation.  February,  1918, 
p.  30. 


^    I 


i : 


railM 


S06   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

European  teachers.  But  the  Great  War.  by  slack- 
ening the  tide  of  immigration  and  accelerating  the 
process  of  Americanizatioa,  has  tended  to  obliterate 
this  characteristic  of  Catholic  education. 


H 


5.1 


I 


slack- 
ig  the 
terate 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  RISE  or  TECHNICAL  EDUCATION 

We  believe  that  in  the  ichoolt  of  applied  science  and  technology 
aa  they  are  carried  on  today  in  the  United  States,  involving  the 
thorough  and  moit  scholarly  study  of  principles  directed  imme- 
diately upon  useful  arts,  and  rising,  in  their  higher  grades,  into 
original  investigation  and  research,  is  to  be  found  almost  the  per- 
fection of  education  for  young  men.  —  Franeii  A.  Walker. 

Agriculture  and  fishing  were  at  first  the  principal 
industries  of  the  American  colonies,  and  the  mother 
country  discouraged  rather  than  favored  efforts 
to  establish  others.  American  enterprise  was  re- 
stricted by  the  navigation  and  trade  laws  enacted 
early  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II  and  supplemented 
by  later  measures,  and  it  was  also  limited  by  re- 
strictions on  the  right  to  manufacture  freely.  The 
iron  and  beaver-hat  industries,  if  not  destroyed  by 
British  legislation,  were  held  down  within  narrow 
limits.  To  restrictions  on  colonial  trade  and  in- 
dustry were  added  irritating  taxation  and  prohibi- 
tions on  paper  money.  It  was  such  arbitrary  in- 
terference with  their  economic  independence  that 

«07 


u 


t08   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

led  the  colonists  to  turn  to  the  idea  of  poIiUcal 
independence. 

Besides  the  artiBcid  and  legislative  restrictions 
imposed  upon  manufactureu  and  coinmertjc  by  the 
mother  country,  the  natural  impediments  in  the 
way  of  establishing  industries  in  a  new  land  were 
often  insurmountable.  Resources  were  undevel- 
ope<l,  and  the  population  was  scanty  and  scattered, 
ikilled  mechanics  were  hard  to  get,  even  when 
there  was  capital  to  employ  them.  Colonists  who 
possessed  some  degree  of  knowledge  of  industrial 
processes  had  little  chance  to  exercise  their  tech- 
nical ability  and  so  to  transmit  it  to  the  next 
generation. 

It  was  because  the  ministers  of  New  England 
were  appalled  by  the  thought  that  their  flocks 
would  be  left  to  an  unlettered  ministry  that  they 
established  colleges  for  the  education  of  their  suc- 
cessors. It  was  also  perceived  that  the  younger 
generation  was  likely  to  grow  up  idle  and  ignorant 
for  lack  of  training  in  the  trades.  The  first  public 
school  law,  the  Massachusetts  Ordinance  of  1642, 
deals  with  the  training  of  children  "in  learning  and 
labor."  It  insists  that  they  be  taught "  to  read  tnd 
understand  the  principles  of  religion  and  the  capi- 
tal laws  of  this  country,"  and  it  also  stipulates  that 


_.  ♦ 


4 


THE  RISE  OP  TECHNICAI.  EDUCATION  £00 

they  be  provided  with  hemp  and  flox  and  "the 
tools  and  implements  for  working  out  the  same." 
The  early  educational  laws  of  the  other  colonies 
also  lay  stress  upon  the  importance  of  training  in 
the  crafts,  but  all  relied,  as  was  the  custom  in  Eng- 
land, upon  the  apprentice  system  to  carry  it  out. 
Where  the  educational  needs  of  the  apprentice 
conflicted  with  the  financial  interests*  of  the  master, 
however,  the  latter  were  likely  to  receive  first  con- 
sideration. For  the  ma  .let  the  educational  system 
provided  no  substitute.  The  wwld  was  slow  to 
bridge  the  gap  between  pure  science  and  applied 
science,  and  there  were  few  who  realized  in  the 
eighteenth  century  that  the  university  professor 
might  teach  the  crafts  without  lowering  his  dignity. 
Jefferson  was  one  of  the  few.  His  ambitious  design 
for  a  State  University  included  "a  school  of  tech- 
nical philosophy  "  with  a  very  comprehensive  kind 
of  university  exten.-iion.    Jefferson  believed  that: 

To  such  a  school  will  come  the  mariner,  carpenter, 
shipwright,  pump  maker,  clock  mak*  r.  mechanist,  op- 
tician, metallurgist,  founder,  cutler,  druggist,  brewer, 
vinter,  distiller,  dyer,  paioter,  bleacher,  soap  maker, 
tanner,  powder  maker,  salt  maker,  glass  maker  to 
learn  as  much  as  shall  be  necessary  to  pursue  their  art 
understandingly  of  the  sciences  of  geometry,  mechon- 
ics,  statics,  hydrostatic  s,  hydraulics,  hydrodynamics, 
1/ 


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210   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

navigation,  astronomy,  geography,  optics,  pneumatic? 
acoustics,  physics,  chemistry,  natural  history,  botany 
mineralogy,  and  pharmacy. 

But  JeflFerson  did  not  live  to  see  such  a  school  es 
tdblished,  and  indeed  it  would  be  hard  to  find  ont 
even  today  which  the  mariner,  the  carpenter,  and 
their  kind  could  attend  with  the  assurance  ol 
finding  the  needed  instruction. 

For  professor  of  agriculture  in  the  university  of 
which  he  was  the  founder  or,  as  he  preferred  to  be 
called,  the  "father."  Jefferson  picked  out  Arthur 
Young.    It  was  a  pity  that  he  could  not  get  this 
excellent  man  to  serve,  for  the  observant  author  of 
Travels  in  France  and  Annals  of  Agriculture  might 
have  done  a  great  deal  for  the  American  farmer. 
The  sage  of  Monticello  also  tried  to  start  the  sys- 
tematic acclimatization  of  useful  plants,  and  during 
the  last  twenty-three  years  of  his  life  he  regulariy 
received  from  his  friend  Thonin,  superintendent 
of  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  in  Paris,  a  box  of  exotic 
seeds  which  he  distributed  to  various  public  and 
private  gardens. 

Both  Jefferson  and  Franklin  during  their  resi- 
dence in  France  became  imbued  with  the  doctrines 
of  the  physiocratic  school,  which  held  that  agricul- 
ture was  the  only  real  productive  industry  and  that 


I; 


THE  RISE  OF  TECHNICAL  EDUCATION  211 

manufacture  and  commerce  were  of  secondary 
importance  to  a  nation.  Franklin  believed  that 
sciences  could  be  best  learned  by  practicing  them. 
Accordingly,  in  his  project  for  the  "Publick 
Academy"  in  Philadelphia,  he  suggested  the 
importance  of  field-work  in  agriculture: 

While  they  are  reading  natural  history,  might  not  a 
little  gardening,  planting,  grafting  and  inoculating 
be  taught  and  practiced;  and  now  and  then  excur- 
sions made  to  the  neighboring  plantations  of  the 
best  farmers,  their  methods  observed  and  reasoned 
upon  for  the  information  of  youth;  the  improvement 
of  agriculture  being  useful  to  all,  and  skill  in  it  no 
disparagement  to  any? 

Notwithstanding  the  diffident  way  in  which  Frank- 
lin introduces  this  revolutionary  suggestion,  we 
may  infer  that  he  was  quite  positive  about  its 
value  and  very  determined  to  put  it  through,  for 
in  his  Autobiography  he  has  told  us  why  he  found 
it  politic  to  modify  the  dogmatic  manner  of  his 
youth  and  to  state  a  proposal  tentatively  in  order 
to  secure  its  acceptance. 

Franklin  in  his  Academy  at  Philadelphia  and 
Jefferson  in  the  University  of  Virgmia  tried  to 
attract  public  attention  to  industrial  and  especially 
agricultural  education,  but  both  failed.  Other  men 
of  foresight  renewed  the  effort.    In  1819  Simeon 


If! 


i      ? 


212    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

DeWitt,  who  was  for  fifty  years  Surveyor  General 
of  New  York  State,  published  a  pamphlet  entitled 
Considerationa  on  the  Necessity  of  Establishing  an 
Agricultural  College  and  having  more  of  the  Children 
of  Wealthy  Citizens  educated  fw  the  Professum  of 
F arming t  in  which  he  puts  the  situation  clearly: 

There  are  now  thousands  of  wealthy  citizens  in  this 
state  who  do  not  know  what  to  do  with  their  sons. 
In  the  first  place,  without  any  determinate  object  in 
view,  they  give  them  a  liberal  education,  or  rather, 
they  send  them  for  four  years  to  a  college  to  obtain 
the  reputation  of  having  a  graduate's  diploma,  and  so 
much  instruction  in  the  dead  languages  and  the  ordi- 
nary sciences  as  they  are  compelled  or  disposed  to  at- 
tend to;  after  that  there  are  only  three  professions 
from  which  ordinarily  they  are  to  choose  their  means 
of  living  and  rising  into  consequence  —  law,  physic, 
and  divinity;  but  so  great  are  the  numbers  of  young 
gentlemen  destined  for  these  professions,  that  their 
prospects  are  truly  dismal;  but  what  other  provision 
can  their  fathers  make  for  them?  Turn  them  to  some 
mechanic  employment?  that  is  considered  too  degrad- 
ing; To  manufacturing?  it  has  been  tried  and  proved 
ruinous;  To  mercantile  business?  that  too  is  over- 
stocked; To  the  army  and  navy?  there  is  little  room 
there,  and  many  reasons  against  it.  To  farming? 
nothing,  it  is  said,  can  be  made  by  it. 

The  author  then  proposes  a  good  sensible  plan  for 
an  agricultural  college,  with  farm  work  for  the 


if  iff  ; 


1 1 


i 


\ 


THE  RISE  OF  TECHNICAL  EDUCATION  «18 

students  and  —  what  some  such  institutions  have 
tried  to  get  along  without  —  a  "Professor  of  Prac- 
tical Agriculture,"  besides  the  professor  of  chem- 
istry, botany,  and  other  sciences.  DeWitt  was 
more  than  fifty  years  ahead  of  his  time,  for  it  was 
not  until  after  the  Civil  War  that  the  necessity  for 
educating  for  "the  profession  of  farming"  was 
generally  recognized.  But  his  alma  mater.  Queens 
College,  then  a  classical  and  sectarian  institution 
under  the  control  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church, 
has  now  been  transformed  into  Rutgers  College, 
the  agricultural  college  of  New  Jersey,  and  much 
the  sort  of  an  institution  he  desired. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  new  State  of  Maine 
was  to  incorporate  in  1822  the  Gardiner  Lyceum 
"to  give  mechanics  and  farmers  such  an  education 
as  will  enable  them  to  become  skilled  in  their  pro- 
fessions."' Although  the  Gardiner  Lyceum  lived 
only  ten  years,  it  did  not  live  in  vain.  Its  second 
principal,  John  H.  Lathrop,  served  later  as  presi- 
dent of  three  State  Universities  in  the  West  — 
Missouri,  Indiana,  and  Wisconsin.  Its  first  "per- 
manent instructor  in  agriculture,"  Ezekiel  Holmes, 
only  a  week  before  his  death  in  1865,  managed  to 
persuade  the  Maine  Legislature  to  pass  an  act 

>  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Inttitute.  1885. 


1 


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«14   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

establishing  the  College  of  Agriculture  and  Me- 
chanic Arts,  which  became  the  University  of  Maine, 
the  first  State  University  in  New  England. 

One  is  reminded  of  the  parable  of  the  sower. 
How  many  seeds  fall  by  the  wayside  and  upon  the 
rocky  places!  How  many  times  the  ground  has  to 
be  seeded  before  a  crop  comes  up!  It  seems  that 
only  one  idea  bears  fruit  out  of  a  million  of  the 
same  sort.  Among  the  few  that  did  not  perish 
but  visibly  took  root  at  once  was  the  report  of 
President  Wayland  to  the  Corporation  of  Brown 
University  in  1850.  After  showing  that  the  twelve 
colleges  of  New  England  had  fewer  students  than 
ten  years  before,  although  endowments  had  in- 
creased and  fees  had  been  reduced,  the  report 
proceeded  to  give  the  reason  for  this  state  of  aflFairs  : 

Our  colleges  are  not  filled  because  we  do  not  furnish 
the  education  desired  by  the  people.  .  .  .  We  have 
produced  an  article  for  which  the  demand  is  diminish- 
ing. We  sell  it  at  less  than  cost  and  the  deficiency  is 
made  up  by  charity.  We  give  it  away  and  still  the 
demand  diminishes.  We  have  in  this  country  one 
hundred  and  twenty  colleges,  forty-two  theological 
seminaries,  and  forty-seven  law  schools,  and  we  have 
not  a  single  institution  designed  to  furnish  the  agri- 
culturist, the  manufacturer,  the  mechanic,  or  the 
merchant  with  the  education  that  will  prepare  him  for 
the  profession  to  which  his  life  will  be  devoted. 


THE  RISE  OP  TECHNICAL  EDUCATION  215 

Trustees  of  colleges  were  not  accustomed  to  being 
talked  to  in  that  tone.    Great  was  the  indignation 
aroused  by  Wayland's  arraignment.    But  the  fault 
was  now  pointed  out  so  clearly  that  it  could  not  be 
ignored.    It  was  one  of  omission  rather  than  of 
commission.   The  university  in  medieval  times  was 
started  with  the  practical  and  proper  purpose  of 
training  for  the  three  learned  professions  —  theol- 
ogy, law,  and  medicine.    It  had  continued  to  per- 
form this  service  with  increasing  efficiency  but  had 
not  observed  that  with  the  advance  of  science  there 
had  arisen  a  new  learned  profession  called,  for  lack 
of  a  better  name,  engineering.    This  required  as 
long  and  systematic  training  as  the  older  profes- 
sions and  was  not  devoid  of  a  cultural  value  of  its 
own,  but  no  adequate  facilities  had  as  yet  been 
provided  for  it.     So  long  as  nine-tenths  of  the 
graduates  became  preachers,  lawyers,  and  doctors, 
the  college  had  no  reason  to  pay  much  attention 
to  the  rest.     But  when  this  proportion  was  re- 
versed, evidently  the  institution  was  being  run  in 
the  interests  of  the  minority. 

The  first  branch  of  this  new  profession  to  demand 
attention  was  naturally  land  surveying,  and  the 
surveyors  were  usually  among  the  foremost  in  urg- 
ing the  extension  of  education  to  include  applied 


'   ( 


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816   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

science,  especially  agriculture.  To  Washingtoi 
and  DeWitt,  already  mentioned,  another  surveyo 
must  now  be  added  —  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer, 
descendant  of  the  Dutch  patroon  of  that  name  wh 
was  granted  a  wide  domain  in  the  Hudson  Valley 
It  was  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer  who  first  proposei 
the  Erie  Canal  and,  as  State  Commissioner,  mad 
the  first  survey  for  it  in  181 1 .  He  offered  to  donat 
land  for  a  college  of  agriculture  and  mechanic  art 
on  the  Feldenberg  plan  if  the  State  would  establisl 
such  an  institution. '  When  the  New  York  Legisla 
ture  refused,  he  took  it  upon  himself  to  found  a 
Troy  a  school  "for  the  purpose  of  instructing  per 
sons  who  may  choose  to  apply  themselves  in  th 
application  of  science  to  the  common  purposes  o 
life."  The  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute,  whicl 
was  thus  opened  in  1825,  developed  only  twenty 
five  years  later  into  a  full  four-year  school  of  en 
gineering.  The  principal  object  of  the  founder  wa 
rather  a  training  school  for  teachers  for  what  toda^ 
would  be  called  the  "short  course"  or  "extensioi 
work  "  in  agricultural  and  domestic  science.  Rens 
selaer's  idea  of  how  the  sciences  should  be  taught 

'  A  brief  but  ezeellent  survey  of  the  early  efforts  at  the  educa 
tion  of  engineers  will  be  found  in  Columbia  Vniveriity  Quarterly 
December,  1916. 


h( 


THE  RISE  OP  TECHNICAL  EDUCATION  «17 
is  interesting:  "These  are  not  to  be  taught  by  see- 
ing experiments  and  hearing  lectures  according  to 
the  usual  methods.    But  they  are  to  lecture  and 
experiment  by  turns,  under  the  immediate  direc- 
tion of  the  professor  or  competent  assistant.   Thus, 
by  a  term  of  labor,  like  an  apprentice  to  a  trade, 
they  are  to  become  operative  chemists."     The 
"Rensselaer   plan"    of   student    demonstrations 
spread  rapidly  to  other  schools  and  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  precursor  of  the  modern  laboratory 
methods  and  of  the  close  connection  between  school 
and  shop  which  has  been  established  in  recent 
times  at  Cincinnati,  Gary,  and  elsewhere. 

But  the  idea  has  a  longer  genealogy  than  that, 
and  we  must  here  consider  influences  emanating 
from  Switzerland  and  Germany  which  had  much 
to  do  with  the  development  of  industrial  education 
in  the  United  States.  Johann  Heinrich  Pestalozzi, 
inspired  by  Rousseau's  theory  of  natural  educa- 
tion, conceived  a  method  of  teaching  by  means  of 
"object  lessons"  in  place  of  the  traditional  verbal 
instruction  and  tried  to  combine  manual  with 
mental  labor.  Pestalozzi  in  turn  inspired  three 
other  great  educators  who  in  the  early  years  of 
the  nineteenth  century  worked  out  different  sides 
of  his  doctrine.    Froebel  devoted  himself  to  the 


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818    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

training  of  children  and  developed  the  kindergarten 
which  was  introduced  into  the  United  States  aboui 
1870.  Herbart  developed  the  psychological  prin 
ciples  of  the  new  education  in  Germany  which 
when  brought  to  America  in  the  nineties,  effected 
a  thorough  reformation  of  methods  of  instruction. 
The  third  of  the  disciples  of  Pestalozzi  was  a  ricb 
Swiss  aristocrat,  Philipp  Emanuel  von  Fellenberg, 
who  seized  upon  the  idea  of  a  democratic  and  prac- 
tical system  of  education  in  which  the  children  ol 
rich  and  poor  should  study  and  work  together  and 
develop  all  their  faculties  through  useful  labor. 
With  this  object  he  started  a  "farm-school"  at 
Hofwyl,  near  Bern,  in  1800,  and  before  many  years 
similar  industrial  institutions  had  sprung  up  in 
Switzerland  and  Germany.  The  movement  was 
taken  up  enthusiastically  and  spread  in  the  United 
States  by  the  Society  for  Promoting  Manual  Labor 
in  Literary  Institutions.  Theological  seminaries, 
following  the  lead  of  Andover  in  1820,  introduced 
manual  labor  "for  invigorating  and  preservings; 
health,  without  any  reference  to  pecuniary  profit." 
Robert  Dale  Owen,  trained  at  Hofwyl,  made  it  a 
feature  of  his  communistic  colony  at  New  Har- 
mony, Indiana.  But  as  manual  labor  was  ex- 
tensively adopted        charitable  and  reformatory 


:] 


THE  RISE  OF  TECHNICAL  EDUCATION  219 
institutions,  this  addition  to  the  curriculum  natu- 
rally did  not  tend  to  remove  the  prejudice  pre- 
vailing in  academic  circles  against  the  use  of 
the  hands. 

As  a  result  of  these  various  attempts  to  found 
Fellenberg  schools  in  America,  it  was  soon  realized 
that  the  expectation  of  making  the  institutions 
self-supporting  by  student  labor  was  fallacious. 
The  kind  and  amount  of  work  that  the  unskilled 
youth  could  do  in  time  spared  from  his  studies 
proved  too  insufficient  to  be  profitable.  The  school 
either  failed  altogether  or,  if  it  prospered,  the  irk- 
some manual  labor  was  gradually  eliminated  until 
only  an  academy  or  college  of  the  traditional  liter- 
ary type  remained.  In  cases  where  the  vocational 
aspect  gained  the  predominance,  an  engineering  or 
trade  school  resulted.  Manual  training  with  a 
purely  educational  aim  has  been  retained  in  city 
schools  and  is  a  common  feature  of  the  upper 
grades.  The  Swedish  sloyd  and  the  Russian  sys- 
tem have  had  their  day  and  left  their  traces.  The 
Tuskegee  Institute  for  negroes,  foun<led  in  Ala- 
bama in  1881  by  Booker  T.  Washington,  perhaps 
most  nearly  approaches  the  type  toward  which  the 
Fellenberg  movement  pointed. 

Wayland's  arraignment  of  higher  education  was 


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1 

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..  -!* 

1 

i 

««0  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
not  much  overdrawn.  Up  to  the  middle  of  th( 
nineteenth  century  the  educational  needs  of  th« 
farmer,  the  mechanic,  and  the  engineer  had  beer 
very  poorly  provided  for.  But  the  experiment! 
which  had  failed  were  not  altogether  fruitless,  and 
the  efforts  of  the  agricultural  and  industrial  classes 
were  soon  to  be  crowned  with  success  through  thi 
munificence  of  the  Federal  Government.  To  th( 
new  era  inaugurated  by  the  Morrill  Act  a  chapter 
must  be  devoted. 


CHAFFER  XV 


THE  MORRILL  ACT  AND   WHAT  CAME  OF  IT 


The  endowment,  support  and  mainteiMnce  of  at  least  one 
college  where  the  leading  object  thall  be,  without  excluding  other 
icirntific  and  danical  studiei,  and  inoIudiDg  military  tactics,  to 
teach  such  braoehea  of  learning  as  are  related  to  agriculture  and 
the  mechanic  arts,  in  such  manner  as  the  legislatures  of  the  States 
may  respectively  presciibe,  in  order  to  promote  the  liberal  and 
practical  education  of  the  industrial  classes  in  the  several  pursuits 
and  professions  in  life.  —  The  Morrill  Ael  of  1881. 

These  seventy-five  words  are  among  the  moat 
important  in  the  history  of  American  education, 
for  in  every  State  they  established  institutions  of  a 
new  type  upon  which  are  now  expended  more  than 
$36,000,000  of  pubh'c  funds  every  year.  No  other 
country  has  provided  so  extensive  a  system  of  in- 
dustrial education  or  has  endowed  it  so  liberally. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  general  the  party 
favoring  the  protection  of  American  industries  has 
done  most  to  promote  the  research  and  education 
upon  which  those  industries  depend.  The  Tariff 
Act  of  1861  was  drawn  up  by  the  same  hand  that 

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8M   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

<lrufted  til*-  Morrill  l^iifl  (Jrunt  Act  of  1862  for  th 
benefit  of  imlustriui  f<liifntion;  and  the  Morril 
Bill,  which  hnd  been  vetoed  by  the  Democruti 
President  Buchanan,  was  signed  three  years  late 
by  Abraham  Lincoln. 

In  an  addresH  before  the  Wisconsin  State  Agri 
cultural  Society  at  Milwaukee  in  1H.59,  Lincoli 
thus  cxpreiksed  hi.s  idea  of  induNtrial  e<lucali#jn: 

The  old  general  rule  was  that  educate<l  people  <iid  no 
perform  manual  labor.  They  managed  to  eat  thei 
bread,  leaving  the  toil  of  producing  it  to  the  uncdu 
cated.  .  .  .  But  free  labor  says  '*  No. "  Free  labo 
argues  that  as  the  Author  of  man  makes  every  indi 
vidual  with  one  head  and  one  pairof  hands,  it  wasprob 
ably  intended  that  heads  and  handu  should  cooperate 
as  friends,  and  that  that  particular  head  should  direc 
and  control  that  pair  of  hands.  As  eoth  man  has  on* 
mouth  to  be  fed  and  one  pair  of  hands  to  furnish  food 
it  was  probably  intended  that  that  particular  pair  o 
hands  should  feed  that  particular  mouth,  that  earl 
head  is  the  natural  guardian,  director,  and  protectoi 
of  the  hands  and  mouth  inseparably  connected  will 
it:  and  that  being  so,  every  head  should  be  cultivater 
and  improved  by  whatever  will  add  to  its  capacity  foi 
performing  its  charge.  In  one  word,  free  labor  insists 
on  universal  education. 

Agricultural  societies  such  as  Lincoln  was  address- 
ing had  existed  for  a  hundred  years  and  had  lon^! 


<      I 


I  H 


Si 


r#j 


TOE  MORRILL  ACT  <i3 

been  urging  upon  tlu*  douf  eurM  of  the  collcgcN  I  he 
necessity  for  ugritailturul  education.  Washington, 
Jefferson,  and  Franklin  wm*  nieinlKTS  of  the  Fliila- 
delphia  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture.  As 
early  sui  1791)  this  8<jciety,  whose  seal  hore  the 
motto  "Venerate  the  Plough,"  eonsitlered  plans 
for  teaching  Hie  science  and  art  of  ugricidture  in 
the  colleges  iind  common  schools. 

Half  a  century  later  a  New  York  society,  the 
Mechanics  Mutual  Protection,  sUirted  a  movement 
for  a  "  People' ;  College  for  the  ])urpose  of  promot- 
ing litenil  ire,  >eien<X',  .iris,  and  agriculture"  and, 
after  ten  years  of  agitation  in  which  the  jiowerful 
aid  of  Horiu  '  (ireeley'.s  Tribune  was  enlisted,  ob- 
tained a  charter  from  the  Legislature  in  1853.  The 
People's  College  proposed  to  give  an  education 
more  liberal  than  those  which  hitherto  bud  mo- 
nopolized the  "liberal  arts."  The  old-fash»-Mt  .' 
colleges  as  a  rule  paid  scant  attention  t<>  '■-.•h  s  ;• 
and  ignored  agriculture;  but  the  trusttt  •(  i;  ,' 
People's  College  were  more  generously  din  cU  d  is 
"make  ample  provision  for  instruction  in  theci  -- 
sics."  So,  too,  the  Morrill  Act  itself  expressly  dis- 
claims antagonism  to  the  older  education  by  the 
words,  "without  excluding  classical  studies." 

The  People's  College,  however,  could  not  raise 


in 


'.  i. 


h 
i 


I  n 


«24    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

enough  money  to  open  its  doorii,  and  until  it  did  so 
the  State  refused  help.  President  Brown  of  the 
People's  College  accordingly  went  to  Washington 
to  lobby  for  the  Morrill  bill.  The  national  funds 
which  were  finally  obtained  through  this  measure 
went  to  Cornell  University,  which  has  in  most 
respects  more  than  fulfilled  the  expectations  of  the 
People's  College  and  which  was  situated  appro- 
priately at  Ithaca,  the  home  of  Simeon  DcWitt. 
Another  force  working  toward  the  Morrill  Act 
came  from  Illinois.  Jonathan  B.  Turner,  a  pro- 
fessor of  Illinois  College,  Jacksonville,  presented 
"A  Plan  for  an  Industrial  University,"  which  was 
printed  in  the  United  States  Patent  Oflice  Report 
of  1852;  and  next  year  the  General  Assembly  of 
Illinois  memorialized  Congress  to  grant  land  to 
each  State  for  the  establishment  of  ut  least  one 
college  for  agriculture  and  mechanic  arts.  The  bill 
which  was  introduced  by  Morrill  in  1857  and 
passed  by  Congress  but  vetoed  by  President 
Buchanan  followed  closely  the  Illinois  memorial. 
After  the  bill  had  been  vetoed  by  the  President, 
Turner  continued  to  work  for  it  and,  in  the  next 
presidential  contest,  obtained  the  promises  of  both 
Lincoln  and  his  rival  Douglas  to  sign  the  bill  if  il 
were  to  come  before  them.    Lincoln  was  the  one 


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THE  MORRILL  ACT  ««5 

to  whom  the  opportunity  came  on  July  2, 1862,  one 
of  the  darkest  days  of  the  Civil  War. 

Justin  S.  Morrill,  Vermont  farmer  and  Congress- 
man, was  transferred  to  the  Senate  in  1867  and 
remained  in  office  long  enough  to  see  the  fruition 
of  his  work.  The  Morrill  Act  of  18fl«  gave  to  each 
State  for  educational  purpmes  30,000  acres  of  land 
for  each  Senator  and  Representative  in  Congress. 
The  second  Morrill  Act,  signed  by  President  Harri- 
son in  1890,  gave  \o  each  State  $€5,000  a  yewr  from 
land  sales  though,  to  prevent  diversion  of  the 
funds,  it  ItBiited  th**  expenditure  to  instruction  in 
agriculture,  the  mechanic  arts,  the  relatwl  sciences, 
and  the  Engfoth  language.  The  Hatch  Art  of  1887 
gave  $15,000  a  year  to  each  Stat**  for  an  agrieul- 
tural  experiment  station,  and  the  AdamH  Act  of 
1906  doubled  this  appropriatiofi  The  Smith- 
Lever  Act  of  1914  appropriated  funds  umounting 
to  $4,580,000  a  year  to  the  several  States  on  the 
condition  of  their  providing  equal  amounts  "to 
aid  in  diffusing  among  the  people  of  the  United 
States  useful  and  practical  information  relating  to 
agriculture  and  home  economics." 

Under  the  first  Morrill  Act  about  13,000.000 
acres  of  the  public  domain,  an  area  neariy  twice  as 
large  as  Belgium,  have  been  distributed  to  the 


h 


^J: 


IS 


II 


J     H 


820    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

States.  The  total  value  of  the  nation's  gifts  to  this 
form  of  education  up  to  the  present  amounts  to 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  billion  dollars.  The  land- 
grant  colleges  and  experiment  stations  now  num- 
ber sixty-nine,  for  there  is  one  or  more  in  every 
State  and  also  in  the  Philippines,  Hawaii,  and 
Porto  Rico,  and  they  give  instruction  to  more  than 
100,000  students.  Besides  these  colleges  there  are 
1426  agricultural  high  schools. 

The  Morrill  Act  wisely  left  each  State  to  decide 
how  it  should  employ  the  land  scrip  bestowed  upon 
it.  In  consequence  the  most  diverse  institutions 
sprang  up.  In  twenty-six  States  new  colleges  of 
agriculture  and  mechanics  were  established.  In 
nearly  half  of  tho  States,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
funds  were  turned  over  to  an  existing  institution, 
usually  the  State  University  where  there  was  one. 
In  Michigan  the  agricultural  college  provided  by 
the  State  Constitution  of  1850  had  been  opened  at 
Lansing  in  1857.  Maryland  and  Penn.;ylvania  had 
each  started  one  in  1859.  These  were  the  only 
State  agricultural  colleges  established  before  tlio 
Morrill  Act.  The  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology  at  Boston,  incorporated  in  1861,  n-- 
ceived  two-thirds  of  the  Morrill  fund  of  Massa- 
chusetts, while  the  other  third  went  to  the  Agri- 


THE  MORRILL  ACT  «7 

cultural  College  opened  at  Amherst.  Massachu- 
setts is  the  only  State  where  "agriculture  and  the 
mechanic  arts"  are  separated. 

Since  the  Morrill  Act  was  passed  in  the  midst  of 
the  Civil  War  it  was  natural  that  it  should  contain 
the  phrase  "including  military  tactics."  These 
three  words  have  had  momentous  consequence. 
The  old-time  "training  days"  had  long  fallen  into 
desuetude  and,  except  for  the  private  military 
academies  and  West  Point,  there  was  practically 
no  military  training  given  to  the  young  men  of 
America  up  to  the  time  of  the  Civil  War.  But 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Spain  in  1898 
the  graduates  of  the  land-grant  colleges  volun- 
teered promptly,  and  over  a  thousand  of  them  ob- 
tained commissions.  By  the  time  the  United  States 
next  engaged  in  war  there  were  over  25,000  such 
trained  men. 

Reference  to  the  clause  from  the  Morrill  Act 
quoted  at  the  head  of  this  chapter  will  show  that 
"agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts"  are  stated  to 
be  joint  objects  of  educational  endeavor.  This 
connection  is  historically  correct,  for  the  two  were 
usually  combined  in  movements  to  establish  indus- 
trial schools.  But  the  success  of  the  movement  was 
due  to  the  farmers  rather  than  to  the  mechanics. 


4   ! 


i 


I  ;. 


M 


*\ 


J   iS 


1- 


8M    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  L\  EDUCATION 
for  the  farmers,  more  numerous  und  in  the  ear 
Her  years  of  the  repubhc  better  orgunized,  wen 
able  to  exert  greater  political  influence.     Sucl 
agrarian  movements  as  the  Grange  of  1867  and  tlu 
People's  Party  of  1802,  which  were  deeply  con 
cemed  with  education,  aroused  little  sympathj 
among  the  laboring  classes  of  the  cities;  on  tht 
other  hand  the  modem  labor  and  socialistic  move- 
ment, now  well  organized  and  powerful,  has  so  fai 
done  little  for  industrial  education.    Some  labor 
men,  in  fact,  have  shown  a  disposition  to  look  with 
suspicion    upon    trade  schools,   especially   when 
founded    by    their   employers,    us   a   capitalistic 
scheme  to  make  skilled  labor  cheap  and  plentiful. 
The  modern  trade-unionist  would  at  any  rale  be 
strongly  opposed  to  the  idea  of  the  older  mechanic 
societies  that  students  should   be  employed  at 
productive  labor. 

The  institutions  that  received  the  Morrill  funds 
were  at  first  quite  uncertain  how  to  spend  them. 
It  was  a  long  time  before  the  problem  of  education 
in  "agriculture  an<l  the  mechanic  arts"  was  solved 
—  if,  indeed,  it  may  be  said  to  be  solved  yet.  The 
land  scrip,  which  was  sometimes  sold  at  less  than 
its  par  value  of  $1.25  an  acre  in  order  to  realize  on 
it  at  once,  brought  the  various  States  sums  ranging 


THE  MORRILL  ACT  ««9 

I  from  $30,000  to  $750,000.    This  money  was  often 
«   wasted  in  unprofitahio  work  or  was  spent  on  educa- 
I    tion  other  than  the  kind  intended.    To  a  small  de- 
'    nominationul  classical  college  it  came  as  a  welcome 
windfall,  yet  the  academic  faculty  wero  apt  to  fear 
the  Federal  Government  as  it  came  bearing  gifts, 
and  the  students  were  disposed  to  show  open  con- 
tempt for  the  "base  mechanicals"  and  the  "cow 
colleges."    The  institution  sometimes  considered 
that  it  had  satisfied  the  requirements  of  the  law 
when  it  had  hired  u  professor  of  agriculture,  bought 
or  borrowed  a  demonstration  farm,  and  fitted  up 
a  shop.    The  rest  of  the  money  could  then  be  used 
where  it  was  most  needed  —  to  pay  the  salaries  of 
the  academic  professors,  most  of  whom  could  be 
made  to  figure  in  some  capacity  on  the  faculty  list 
of  the  so-called  "agricultural  course."    That  bona 
fide  agricultural  students  were  sometimes  few  or 
none  was  not  surprising  and,  in  the  minds  of  some 
of  the  colleagues  of  the  professor  of  agriculture,  not 
greatly  to  be  regretted.     Where  the  agricultural 
and  mechanical  college  was  distinct  from  the  State 
University  and  even  situated  in  another  place, 
many  of  its  students  showed  a  preference  for  the 
ordinary  literary  and  scientific  courses  rather  than 
for  the  vocational;  and,  since  the  State  University 


W.: 


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§30   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

was  likely  ulso  to  offer  rourses  in  engineering,  thi 
t\V(i  institutions  tended  to  overlap  and  becom( 
rivals.  Although  the  land-grant  colleges  wer 
founded  primarily  in  the  interests  of  agriculture 
yet  in  their  early  days  tl.'^  mechanical  or  engineer 
ing  courses  attracted  more  students  because  th< 
instruction  they  provided  was  better  organize! 
&w\  led  to  more  profitable  positions.  The  com 
plaint  in  consequence  was  made  that  the  agricul 
tura!  colleges  were  educating  not /or  the  farm  bul 
from  the  farm.  They  certainly  did  not  serve  t( 
elevate  the  status  of  agriculture  so  'ong  as  thej 
took  the  brightest  l)oys  from  the  farm  and  trainee 
them  for  city  occupj;  lions. 

But  these  early  defects  of  agricultural  education 
have  gradually  been  removed.  The  Department 
of  Agriculture  at  Washington  began  to  take  a 
fatheriy  interest  in  the  colleges  and  experiment 
stations  and,  by  good  counsel  and  an  occasional 
threat  of  cutting  off  the  appropriation,  directed  the 
funds  into  their  proper  channels.  As  the  colleges 
developed  their  own  methods  of  instruction,  they 
gained  confidence  in  thcr  calling  and  won  the 
respect  of  educators  in  other  fields.  The  gap  be- 
tween the  chemist  and  the  botanist  who  were  igno- 
rant of  farming  and  the  practical  farmer  who  was 


i 


THE  MORRILL  ACT  «si 

contemptuous  of  "book-learning"  was  bridged  by 
a  new  order  of  men  with  a  grasp  of  both  theory  and 
practice.  When  the  experiment  stations  demon- 
strated —  as  for  instance  by  the  milk  testing  and 
bacteriology  of  the  dairy,  by  the  breeding  of  new 
varieties  of  crops  and  animals,  by  the  destruction 
of  insect  pests,  and  by  the  elimination  of  tubercu- 
losis —  that  the  endowment  of  scientific  research 
paid  the  community  in  concrete  coin,  they  had  no 
further  trouble  about  getting  funds.  Through  agri- 
cultural institutions,  university  extension  lectures, 
short  winter  courses,  demonstration  trains,  lending 
libraries,  correspondence  co  rses,  and  franked  bul- 
letins, the  land-grant  colleges  now  reach  two  or 
three  million  people  a  year.  They  have  come  to 
realize  that  they  have  a  wider  function  than  train- 
ing a  few  expert  managers  of  big  farms;  they  have 
to  educate  a  community  for  country  life. 

The  influence  exerted  by  the  Mori  ill  Act  is  well 
set  forth  in  the  words  of  Liberty  Hyde  Bailey  of 
Cornell,  one  of  the  first  to  perceive  its  spiritual 
significance  and  one  of  the  largest  contributors  to 
its  realization : 

The  Land-Grant  Act  is  probably  the  most  important 
single  specific  enactment  ever  made  in  the  interest 
of  education.    It  recognizes  the  principle  that  every 


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232    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

citizen  is  entitled  to  receive  educational  aid  from  tl 
government  and  that  the  common  affairs  of  life  ai 
proper  subjects  with  which  to  educate  or  train  mei 
Its  provisions  are  so  broad  that  the  educational  d( 
velopment  of  all  future  time  may  rest  upon  it.  It  e: 
presses  the  final  emancipation  from  formal,  tradition 
and  aristocratic  ideas  and  it  imposes  no  methods  < 
limitations.  It  recognizes  the  democracy  of  educatic 
and  then  leaves  all  the  means  to  be  worked  out  as  tin 
goes  on.  < 

This  beneficent  legislation,  pc  sed  by  Congress  i 
the  darkest  hour  of  the  republic,  carried  into  effe* 
and  combined  in  a  practical  way  Washington 
idea  of  national  aid  and  control,  Jefferson's  physi( 
cratic  theory  of  the  fundamental  importance  ( 
agriculture,  Franklin's  plans  for  vocational  trail 
ing,  and  Lincoln's  plea  for  the  education  of  labo 

'  The  Rite  of  the  Stale  C alleges  of  Agricidture  in  Cyclopedia 
American  Agriculture,  vol.  iv. 


11  :> 


II 

If    ■ 


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5 


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-.'4 


i       l! 


CHAPTER  yVI 


WOMEN  KNOCKING  AT  THE  COLLEGE  DOOR 


1 


I 


Educate  the  women  and  the  men  will  be  educated. 
Lyon. 


■  Mary 


Fob  more  than  two  hundred  years  after  the  first 
colleges  were  established  in  America  their  doors 
were  barred  against  women.  Even  the  rudiments 
of  education  were  grudgingly  granted  in  colonial 
days;  and,  if  any  women  were  bold  enough  to  claim 
the  privilege  of  learning  the  things  that  men  were 
encouraged  to  know,  it  was  at  the  peril  of  social 
disapprobation.  In  the  dame  schools  the  little 
girls  were  taught  to  learn  the  letters  from  horn- 
books as  well  as  from  their  samplers,  and  penman- 
ship was  more  highly  esteemed  as  a  fine  art  than  it 
is  in  these  days  of  typewriters  and  dictaphones. 
We  must  remember,  however,  that  in  the  manifold 
industries  of  the  household  —  cooking,  preserving, 
brewing,  dairying,  soap-making,  gardening,  spin- 
ning, dyeing,  weaving,  millinery,  and  dressmaki;tg 

233 


n 


Ml? 

•ij! 


n 


234    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

—  the  girls  of  the  colonial  period  had  ndvantaj 
for  "laboratory  practice"  in  the  fundamental 
dustries  such  as  our  million-dollar  technologi 
institutes  do  not  aflFord.  It  was  found  desira 
in  the  interests  of  domestic  economy  that  tl 
should  also  be  taugh';  elementary  arithmetic. 
In  the  Massachusetts  Ordinance  of  1642,  \ 
comer-stone  of  the  public  school  system  of  1 
United  States,  we  see  the  authorities  grappli 
with  the  problem  of  coeducation,  for  they  h* 
"that  boys  and  girls  be  not  suffered  to  convei 
together,  so  as  may  occasion  any  wanton,  d 
honest  or  immodest  behaviour."  But  for  the  fi] 
century  and  a  half  after  the  settlement  of  the  coi 
try  doors  of  the  grammar  schools  were  kept  pret 
tightly  closed  to  the  ^  ...er  sex.  The  Hopki 
School  of  New  Haven  ruled  in  1684  that  "all  gi 
be  excluded  as  improper  and  inconsistent  with  su 
a  grammar  school  as  ye  law  injoines  and  as  is  t 
Designe  of  this  settlement."  In  the  early  part 
the  eighteenth  century  three-fourths  of  the  woni 
who  were  called  upon  to  sign  legal  documents  hi 
to  make  their  mark.  Afler  the  Revolution,  ho^ 
ever,  a  different  spirit  began  to  prevail,  and  tl 
girls  were  allowed  to  receive  instruction  after  s< 
Gloucester  in  1790  passed  an  eight-hour  law  for  i 


I'i 

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ION 

1  vantages 
lental  in- 
inological 
desirable  i 
hat  they 
metic. 
1642,  the 
tn  of  the 
?rapph*ng  j 
hey  held  | 
converse 
ton,  dis- 
r  the  first 
the  coun- 
pt  pretty 
Hopkins 
"all  girls 
ivith  such 
as  is  the 
y  part  of 
e  women 
lents  had 
on,  how- 
and  the 
?r  s< 
w  for  its 


WOMEN  AT  THE  COLLEGE  DOOR     235 

schoolmaster  in  order  that  he  might  give  two  hour3 
a  day  "to  the  instruetiop  of  females  —  as  they  are 
a  tender  and  interesting  branch  of  the  com;nunity 
but  have  been  much  neglected  in  the  public  schoc's 
of  this  town."  The  selectmen  of  Portsmouth,  Nev? 
Hampshire,  opened  in  1773  a  school  where  girls 
were  taught  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  geog- 
raphy. David  McClure,  the  Portsmouth  school- 
master, writes  in  his  diary  that  he  had  seventy  or 
eighty  misses  from  seven  to  twenty  years  of  age,  so 
that  he  was  obliged  to  take  half  of  them  in  tlie  fore- 
noon and  half  in  the  afternoon,  and  he  adds:  "This 
is,  I  believe,  the  only  female  school  (supported 
by  the  town)  in  New  England  and  rs  a  wise  and 
useful  institution." 

We  find  Franklin  as  a  boy  arguing  with  his  chum 
in  favor  of  the  "propriety  of  educating  the  female 
sex  in  learning  and  their  abilities  for  study"  and 
later  in  life  recommending  "the  knowledge  of 
accounts  ...  for  our  young  females,  as  likely  to 
be  of  more  use  to  their  children,  in  case  of  widow- 
hood, than  either  music  or  dancing,  by  preserving 
them  from  losses  by  imposition  of  crafty  men  and 
enabling  them  to  continue  perhaps  a  profitable  mer- 
cantile house."  But  even  the  far-sighted  Frank- 
lin could  not  have  foreseen  the  modern  business 


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836    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

office  with  a  large  part  of  its  work  done  1 
"young  females,"  who,  in  spite  of  their  cleric 
duties,  manage  somehow  to  find  time  for  "mu! 
and  dancing." 

New  Orleans  claims  priority  over  New  Englai 
in  the  matter  of  girls'  schools,  on  the  ground  that 
1727  ten  Ursuline  sisters  from  Rouen  established 
convent  school  in  that  French  colony.  This  schc 
is  still  in  existence  and  now  gives  instruction 
English  as  well  as  French.  Before  1750  the  M 
ravian  missionaries  had  maintained  a  school  f 
girls  in  Nazareth,  Pennsylvania,  and  in  1802  th( 
opened  a  Female  Academy  at  Salem,  North  Car 
lina.  The  bill  that  Jefferson  introduced  into  t] 
Virginia  Assembly  in  1779  provided  for  the  fr 
training  of  all  free  children,  girls  as  well  as  boys,  f 
three  years  in  the  three  R's,  but  this  bill  did  n 
pas3.  Ten  years  later  Boston  opened  elemental 
schools  for  girls  and  in  1826  a  girls'  grammar  scho< 

But  for  the  most  part  and  for  many  years  aft 
this,  women  had  to  be  content  w  ith  such  crumbs  ( 
learning  as  fell  from  the  master's  table.  Here  ar 
there  a  bright  ambitious  girl  might  borrow  h( 
brother's  books  and  rival  him  in  his  preparatoi 
studies,  but  when  he  went  off  to  college  she  coul 
not  follow  him.    Before  the  end  of  Jie  eighteent 


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WOMEN  AT  THE  COLLEGE  DOOR     287 
century  Lucinda  Foot  was  certificated  as  qualified 
for  en  .ance  to  Yale  but  was  debarred  from  enter- 
ing.   The  feminine  mind  was  thought  incapable  of 
the  serious  learning  and  logical  thought  involved 
in  the  study  of  the  ancient  languages,  higher  mathe- 
matics,  and  natural  sciences.    This  belief  could  be 
held  only  so  long  as  no  opportunity  was  afforded  to 
demonstrate  the  contrary.    After  it  was  found  not 
impossible  for  women  to  acquire  higher  education, 
such  a  course  was  still  held  to  be  undesirable.    In 
the  coeducational  seminaries  of  New  York  and 
New  England  all  studies  were  theoretically  open  to 
both  sexes,  but  a  girl  who  insisted  upon  taking 
Greek  was  regarded,  even  down  to  the  Civil  War, 
much  as  a  girl  would  nowadays  who  insisted  upon 
playing  baseball.    She  might  do  it  after  a  fashion, 
but  she  would  be  looked  upon  as  offensively  mas- 
cuhne,  and  the  better  she  did  it  the  worse  for  her 
reputation.   In  the  course  of  time  the  situation  has 
been  curiously  reversed,  and  now  in  some  of  our 
coeducational  colleges  a  boy  who  studies  Greek  is 
regarded  as  effeminate. 

The  studies  that  in  the  early  days  were  regamed 
as  proper  for  young  ladies  were  the  English  and 
French  languages,  with  a  cautious  selection  of 
polite  literature  in  these  langunges,  a  little  history. 


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or  rather  biography,  devotional  and  moral  readii 
and  such  ornamental  arts  as  music,  sketching,  a 
dancing.  In  science  astronomy  was  preferred 
less  demoralizing  than  zoOlogy  or  botany  and  1( 
hard  on  the  hands  and  nose  than  chemistry.  T 
astronomy  taught  was  sometimes  and  quite  pre 
erly  called  "Geography  of  the  Heavens,"  since 
consisted  largely  of  learning  to  call  the  constell 
lions  by  their  mytholot  cal  names.  But  wh 
Vassar,  the  first  college  for  women,  was  opened 
1865,  it  could  boast  of  possessing  the  second  large 
telescope  in  the  United  States  and  the  greate 
woman  astronomer,  Maria  Mitchell. 

The  first  General  Assembly  of  Alabama  in  18! 
passed  a  bill  to  establish  a  common  school  in  evei 
district,  an  academy  in  every  county,  and  a  Sta 
University  with  a  branch  for  "female  educatio:. 
but  this  ambitious  project  was  never  carried  ou 
To  provide  for  the  needs  of  the  women 
South  many  seminaries,  institutes,  and  colleg     v. 
started  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  ct 
by  Catholics,  Baptists,  Methodists,  "Christians, 
Presbyterians,  Masons,  Odd  Fellows,  and  prival 
individuals. '    Some  of  these  institutions  were  f( 

■  A  full  list  of  these  are  given  in  I.  M.  E.  Blandin's  History 
Uigher  Education  of  Women  in  the  South  (1900). 


ION 

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were  for 

History  of 


WOMEN  AT  THE  COLLEGE  DOOR     289 

girls  only,  and  some  were  coeducational.  Of  these 
Elizabeth  Academy,  established  by  the  Methodists 
in  1818  at  Old  Washington,  Mississippi,  and  char- 
tered as  a  college  two  years  later,  claims  to  have 
been  the  first  in  the  United  States  to  provide  col- 
lege training  for  women.  Georgia  Female  College, 
chartered  in  1836  and  now  known  as  the  V/esleyun 
Female  College  of  Macon,  files  a  conflicting  claim 
to  be  the  "oldest  regulurly  chartered  institution  for 
conferring  degrees  upon  women  in  America,  if  not 
in  the  entire  world."  Three  years  later  the  Judson 
Female  Institute  was  established  at  Marion,  Ala- 
bama, by  the  Reverend  Milo  P.  Jewett,  afterwards 
President  of  Vassar  College. 

While  the  South  was  thus  striving  to  open  edu- 
cational opportunities  to  women,  the  North  was 
making  similar  eflPorts  and  ultimately  achieved 
greater  success.  In  1818  Mrs.  Emma  Hart  Willard, 
wife  of  a  college  professor  of  Middlebury,  published 
an  Address  to  the  Public  outlining  A  Plan  for  Im- 
proving Female  Education  which  was  at  once  bold 
and  practical.  Though,  as  she  said,  "the  absurd- 
ity of  sending  ladies  to  college  may,  at  first 
thought,  strike  every  one  to  whom  this  subject 
shall  be  proposed,"  there  were  some  men  to  whom 
the  idea  did  not  seem  an  "absurdity."    Adams  of 


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€40   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

MasMchusetts  and  Jefferson  of  Virginia  favore< 
the  idea,  and  a  bill  appropriating  $2000  wai»  intro 
duced  into  the  New  York  Legislature.  This  meaa 
ure  pa«jed  the  Senate  but  failed  in  the  Assembly 
But  the  city  of  Troy  raised  $4000  and  establishet 
ill  1821  the  institution  that  is  today  known  as  Un 
Emma  Willard  Seminary. 

In  1822  Catherine  Esther  Beecher  founded  th( 
Hartford  Female  Seminary,  which  was  for  man: 
years  the  leading  school  for  the  higher  educatioi 
of  women  in  America.  The  daughter  of  Lymai 
Beecher  and  sharing  the  brilliant  gifts  of  his  uniqu< 
family,  Catherine  did  not  lack  the  enthusiasm,  ini 
tiative,  and  originality  necessary  to  a  pioneer  ir 
unpopular  enterprises.  She  organized  a  Femalt 
Seminary  in  Cincinnati,  lectured  in  the  South  and 
West  on  the  subject  of  education,  especially  for 
women,  and  wrote  several  stimulating  and  sugges- 
tive books.  One  of  her  hobbies  is  training  in 
domestic  science  in  order  "that  women  may  be 
healthful,  mtelligent,  and  successful  wives,  mothers, 
and  housekeepers."  But  nowadays  this  specialized 
study  of  "household  engineering"  is  common  in  all 
coeducational  institutions  and  is  being  introduced 
into  the  colleges  for  women. 

But  neither  Mrs.  Willard  nor  Miss  Beecher  was 


WOMEN  AT  THE  COLLEGE  DOOR     U\ 

no  successful  as  a  young  teacher  associated  with 
them  in  these  pioneer  enterprises,  a  h'vely,  good- 
humored,  fast  talking,  untidy,  red-headed,  rosy 
cheeked,  pious  country  girl  named  Mary  Lyon. 
None  knew  bctt  jx-  than  she  the  value  of  an  educa- 
tion, for  few  had  worked  so  hard  for  one.    Mary 
Lyon  was  bom  in  Buckland,  Massachusetts,  in 
1797.    Her  father  died  when  she  was  six,  leaving 
the  widow  to  run  the  mountain  farm  with  the  aid 
of  her  six  daughters  and  one  son  aged  thirteen. 
When  she  was  ten  years  old,  Mary  got  a  chance  to 
work  for  her  board  at  Ashfield  and  attend  school. 
At  sixteen  she  was  teaching  school  for  sev  enty-five 
cents  a  week  and  board  —  a  good  teacher,  although 
not  quite  secure  in  her  position  because  she  laughed 
too  easily.    But  she  saved  all  her  salary  and  by  the 
time  she  was  twenty  she  had  earned  enough  more 
by  spinning,  dyeing,  and  weaving  to  pay  for  her 
tuition  at  Sanderson  Academy  in  Ashfield.    "No 
one  could  study  like  Mary  Lyon  and  no  one  could 
clean      »  schoolroom  with  such  dispatch,"  said  a 
fellow-student.    When  she  applied  for  instruction 
in  Latin,  the  teacher  tried  to  discourage  her  by 
putting  into  her  hands  a  Latin  grammar  as  she  left 
the  school  on  Friday  night,  but  Mary  turned  up 
Monday  n?oming  with  much  of  it  learned  by  heart 


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«4«    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

and  with  h  troubled  cons'rienct'  for  having  infringi 
the  fourth  commandment.  She  proved  to  be  t\ 
m.>st  brilh'ant  clasiiical  scholar  of  the  academy,  on 
although  she  worked  night  and  Joy,  often  wit 
only  four  hours'  sleep,  nothing  weakened  her  healt 
and  enthusiasm.  She  put  herself  through  a  rigoi 
ous  process  of  self-training  to  correct  the  defecl 
of  her  childhocJ  and  to  learn  to  speak  grammat 
cally,  dress  neatly,  and  avoid  eccentricities  in  ordt 
that  she  might  achieve  the  aim  of  her  life,  the  ei 
tublishment  of  an  institution  where  women  coul 
get  a  higher  education  than  had  been  hitherto  op<' 
to  them.  She  was  quick  to  catch  and  apply  nei 
ideas  in  education.  The  Pestalozzian  principle  c 
engaging  the  active  interest  of  the  pupil  by  cor 
Crete  and  objective  methods  appealed  particularl 
to  her,  and  she  adopted  it  while  teaching  at  Bucli 
land.  History  she  tauglit  as  a  living  thing.  Men 
tal  arithmetic  was  her  hobby.  The  experimenta 
method  of  teaching  chemistry  she  acquired  at  th 
Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute  at  Troy  where,  a 
we  have  seen,  the  founder  insisted  upon  it  from  th 
start.  Rensselaer,  founded  to  give  instruction  t 
boys  and  girls  in  agriculture  and  mechanic  arts 
-ubsequently  dropped  both  the  agriculture  and  th 
girls  but  fortunately  not  before  it  had  cducatc< 


WOMEN  AT  THE  COLLEGE  DOOR     <»:» 

Mary  Lyon.  For  further  knowledge  of  clunnistry 
and  physics  she  was  indebted  to  Professor  Edward 
Hitchcock  of  Amherst  Colleg". 

Thus  equipped  as  a  teacher,  but  without  money 
or  influential  friends  and  in  *he  face  of  popular  and 
professional  prejudice,  she  started  upon  the  ap- 
palling task  of  raising  money  for  an  unprecedent«'d 
undertaking.  In  three  years  she  hud  raised  $68,- 
500  and  had  put  up  buildings  at  South  Hadley, 
Massachusetts.  Though  she  was  told  thot  no  girls 
would  coLii  to  such  an  institution,  .she  provid- 
ed accommodations  for  eighty-five.  On  opening 
the  doors  in  1837  she  took  in  over  a  hundred  girls 
and  had  to  turn  away  .nany  more.  The  infant 
institution  was  christened  "Mount  Holyoke  Fe- 
male Seminary"  in  preference  to  "The  Pangj-nae- 
kean"  as  Professor  Hitchcock  proposed  to  call 
it.  W.  S.  Tyler,  a  trustee  of  Mo  nt  Hoi,  oke 
Seminary  and  later  of  Smith,  says  oi  ',e  criticisni 
it  encountered:  "It  was  unnutur.-'!,  unphilosophi- 
cal,  unscriptunil,  unpractical  smd  Impracticable, 
unferainine  and  anti  <'l  ristiaii,  i'.  short  all  the e^i- 
thets  in  the  dictionary  that  begin  with  '  un- '  and 
'in-'  and  'anti-'  were  hurled  against  it  and  heaped 
upon  it." 

Mary  Lyon  was  not  deceived  by  the  prevailing 


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244   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

fallacy  of  the  day  that  an  institution  could  b 
made  self-supporting  by  employing  the  students  a 
productive  labor  but,  being  a  believer  in  the  gosp€ 
of  work,  she  planned  to  have  the  necessary  house 
work  of  the  establishment  done  by  the  girls  them 
selves  in  order  that  they  might  reduce  expenses,  ge 
exercise,  and,  when  they  later  became  mistresses  o 
their  own  home,  be  free  "from  servile  dependenc 
on  common  domestics."  The  work  required  o 
students  at  Mount  Holyoke,  however,  was  grad 
ually  reduced  to  the  care  of  their  own  rooms,  an( 
now  even  this  requirement  has  been  dropped. 

For  a  dozen  years  after  Mount  Holyoke  wa 
opened,  Miss  Lyon  remained  to  manage  its  affairs 
mspire  its  teachers,  and  give  the  girls  the  benefi 
of  her  sensible  philosophy  of  life.  She  used  to  wan 
them  that  it  is  "  the  mark  of  a  weak  mind  to  be  con 
tinually  comparing  the  sexes  and  disputing  anc 
making  out  the  female  sex  as  something  great  anc 
superior."  And  again  she  said:  "Never  teach  th( 
immortal  mind  for  money.  If  money-making  is 
your  object,  be  milliners  or  dressmakers,  but  teach- 
ing is  a  sacred,  not  a  mercenary  employment.' 
What  she  preached  she  practiced.  She  never  re- 
ceived more  than  $260  a  year  for  teaching.  She 
never  wrote  a  book  or  even  an  article  on  educa- 


WOMEN  AT  THE  COLLEGE  DOOR     «45 

tional  methodology.    Yet  she  is  accounted  one  of 
the  great  American  educators. 

Although  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary  was  a  great 
step  in  advance,  it  did  not  yet  offer  women  the 
opportunity  for  collegiate  education.  It  was  not 
chartered  as  a  college  until  1888,  and  it  was  five 
years  after  that  before  it  was  fully  prepared  to 
carry  on  collegiate  instruction.  For  the  first  true 
colleges  open  to  women  we  must  turn  to  the  West 
and  especially  to  an  institution  which,  though 
widely  different  from  the  New  England  seminary 
in  most  respects,  was  yet  founded  in  the  same  spirit 
of  democracy,  economy,  piety,  and  industry. 
Oberlin  Collegiate  Institute,  named  after  the  Swiss 
pastor  and  founder  of  charity  schools,  Jean  Fr6d- 
6ric  Oberlin,  was  started  in  the  wilderness  of  Ohio 
by  two  Congregational  home  missionaries,  John  J. 
Shipherd  and  Philo  P.  Stewart,  who  planned  a 
novel  kind  of  collegiate  community  with  many  of 
the  advantages  of  individual  land  ownership.  The 
colonists  signing  the  "Oberlin  Covenant"  agreed 
"to  hold  and  manage  our  estates  personally  but 
pledge  a  perfect  community  of  interest  as  though 
we  held  a  community  of  property."  Like  others, 
the  institution  was  intended  to  be  self-supporting 
through  the  manual  labor  of  the  students  for  four 


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846   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

hours  a  day;  and,  like  others,  it  failed  in  thi 
respect.  The  community  farm,  sawmill,  floui 
mill,  and  workshop  were  later  sold,  and  the  colon; 
idea  was  abandoned,  but  the  institute  nevertheles 
survived  all  vicissitudes.  Few  if  any  colleges  hav 
had  so  much  opposition  to  contend  with,  becaus 
few  if  any  have  so  radically  opposed  the  prevailin, 
ideas  of  their  day.  The  intentions  of  the  founder 
are  set  forth  in  their  first  report  as  follows: 

The  grand  object  is  the  diffusion  of  useful  science 
sound  morality,  and  pure  religion  among  the  growin, 
multitudes  of  the  Mississippi  valley.  It  aims  also  a 
bearing  an  important  part  in  extending  these  bless 
ings  to  the  destitute  millions  that  overspread  th 
earth.  For  this  purpose  it  proposes  as  its  primary  ob 
ject  the  thorough  education  of  ministers  and  piou 
school  teachers;  as  a  secondary  object  the  eleva 
tion  of  female  character.  And  as  a  third  general  de 
sign,  the  education  of  the  common  people  with  th( 
higher  classes  in  such  a  manner  as  suits  the  nature  o 
republican  institutions. 

This  was  an  ambitious  programme  for  a  litth 
wooden  building  in  a  clearing  of  the  backwoods  o 
Ohio,  but  the  most  remarkable  thing  about  it  i; 
that  the  programme  has  been  carried  out.  In  183[ 
Oberlin  opened  with  twenty-nine  men  and  fifteer 
women.    Thus  was  started  .he  first  coeducationa 


WOMEN  AT  THE  COLLEGE  DOOR     247 

i 

\  college  in  the  world.  By  1839  it  challenged  eora- 
I  parison  with  the  best  colleges  by  publishing  in  its 
i  catalogue  the  Yale  curriculum  in  parallel  column 
with  its  own.  Seventj'-nine  women  had  received 
;  the  A.B.  degree  at  Oberlin  before  1865  when  Vassar, 
the  first  women's  college,  opened ;  and  two  hundred 
and  ninety  had  passed  through  the  ladies'  seminary 
course  there.  The  radicalism  of  Oberlin  did  not 
stop  with  the  admission  of  women:  it  admitted 
negroes  as  students.  In  the  same  year,  1834, 
when  Oberlin  opened  its  doors  to  freedmen.  Miss 
Prudence  Crandall  was  indicted  and  imprisoned 
in  Canterbury,  Connecticut,  for  maintaining  a 
"school  for  colored  misses"  contrary  to  a  special 
act  of  the  Legislature.  Oberlin  also,  because  of  its 
abolition  principles,  was  in  danger  of  destruction 
by  mob  violence,  and  its  funds  were  for  a  time  cut 
off.  But  the  first  president  of  Oberlin,  the  Rever- 
end Asa  Mahan,  a  graduate  of  Hamilton  College 
and  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  was  an  un- 
compromising champion  of  free  speech  and  equal 
rights.  He  had  been  a  trustee  in  Lane  Theological 
Seminary  in  Cincinnati  but  seceded  from  that  in- 
stitution with  four-fifths  of  the  students  because 
they  were  forbidden  to  discuss  the  question  of 
slavery.     The  second  president  of  Oberlin,  the 


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248   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

Reverend  Charles  G.  Finney,  was  in  his  way  n 
less  radical.  He  was  a  converted  lawyer,  "pci 
raanently  retained  by  Jesus  Christ"  as  he  put  i1 
and  one  of  the  foremost  evangelists  of  his  daj 
After  building  the  Broadway  Tabernacle  in  Ne\ 
York,  be  went  West  to  become  professor  of  theol 
ogy  in  Oberlin  and  later  president.  There  he  hai 
to  meet  a  double  opposition  —  from  the  churcj 
because  of  his  heretical  views,  and  from  the  popu 
lace  because  of  his  teetotalism.  But  in  spite  o 
everything  Oberlin  stuck  to  its  principles  an( 
thrived  on  persecution.  Today  it  is  a  prosper 
ous  college  of  some  two  thousand  students  and  - 
since  the  world  has  caught  up  with  it  —  scarce!; 
distinguishable  from  neighboring  institutions. 

Other  colleges  in  Ohio  and  adjacent  States  fol 
lowed  the  path  that  Oberlin  had  broken.  Horac 
Mann  adopted  coeducation  when  he  founded  An 
tioch  College,  Ohio,  in  1853.  Other  pioneer  insti 
tutions  which  deserve  honorable  mention  for  thei 
admission  of  women  are,  without  reference  to  thei 
disputed  claims  of  priority:  Lawrence  College  a 
Appleton,  Wisconsin  (opened  1849);  Cornell  Col 
lege  at  Mount  Vernon,  Iowa  (1857);  Baker  Uni 
versity  at  Baldwin,  Kansas  (1858);  and  Lomban 
University  at  Galesburg,  Illinois  (1851).    Nearly 


WOMEN  AT  THE  COLLEGE  DOOR     240 

all  of  the  State  Universities  were  coeducational 
from  the  start:  Iowa,  1856.  Washington,  1862, 
Kansas,  1866,  Minnesota,  1868;  and  the  others  one 
by  one  adopted  this  system  before  the  end  of  the 
century.  In  all  the  Western  States  women  now 
have  access  to  higher  education  on  practically  the 
same  terms  as  men. 

In  the  East,  however,  it  was  diflferent.  The  old 
colleges  refused  to  open  their  doors  to  women,  and 
many  of  them  are  still  closed.  It  was  therefore 
found  to  be  necessary  and  deemed  to  be  desirable 
to  open  separate  colleges  for  women.  To  Mat- 
thew Vassar,  a  millionaire  brewer  of  Poughkeep- 
sie,  New  York,  it  occurred  —  or  was  suggested  by 
his  friend,  the  Reverend  Milo  P.  Jewett  —  "that 
woman,  uaving  received  from  her  Creator  the  same 
intellectual  constitution  as  man,  has  the  same 
right  as  man  to  intellectual  culture  and  develop- 
ment." This  right  —  the  most  important  because 
the  most  fundamental  of  woman's  rights  —  was 
denied  almost  everywhere  in  1850,  but  today  nearly 
every  State  affords  full  and  free  opportunities  for 
collegiate  and  university  education. 

It  was  Vassar's  intenLon  "to  build  and  endow  a 
college  for  women  that  shall  be  to  them  what  Yale 
and  Harvard  are  to  young  men,"  and  he  carried 


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«50    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

out  this  intention.    "Vassar  Female  College"  w 
chartered  in  1861  and  opened  in  1863.     In  tl 
words  of  Miss  M.  Carey  Thomas,  president 
Bryn  Mawr,'  "in  Vassar  we  have  the  legitima 
parent  of  all  future  colleges  for  women  which  we 
to  be  founded  in  such  rapid  succession  in  the  ne 
period."    These,  like  Vassar,  owe  their  existen 
mainly  to  the  beneficence  of  some  wealthy  phila 
thopist.    Wellesley  College,  founded  near  Bost< 
by  Henry  F.  Durant  "for  the  glory  of  God  by  tl 
education  and  culture  of  women,"  was  opened 
1875.    Smith  College  at  Northampton,  Massach 
setts,  founded  by  the  bequest  of  half  a  million  1 
Miss  Sophia  Smith,  was  also  opened  in  1875.  Bn 
Mawr  College,  founded  by  Joseph  W.  Taylor 
Bryn  Mawr,  near  Philadelphia,  and  chartered 
1880,  was  in  operation  five  years  later.     Wei 
College  at  Aurora,  New  York,  was  founded  I 
Henry  Wells  and  E.  R.  Morgan  and  was  charten 
as  a  college  in  1870. 

In  spite  of  these  and  other  separate  colleges  f 
women,  the  demand  for  the  admission  of  women 
the  opportunities  of  the  great  universities  becan 
so  great  that  some  provision  had  to  be  made  i 

«  Education  of  Women  in  Butler's  Monographs  on  Education 
the  United  State$. 


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WOMEN  AT  THE  COLLEGE  DOOR     i5l 

them.  A  women's  "  Annex  "  to  Harvard  which  was 
started  in  1879  developed  by  1894  into  Radcliffe 
College,  aflSliated  with  Harvard  University.  Bar- 
nard College  for  women,  which  forms  a  part  of 
Columbia  University,  began  its  work  in  1889. 

In  various  ways,  according  to  the  social  condi< 
Uons  and  ideals  prevailing  in  different  localities, 
the  need  for  the  higher  education  of  women  has 
been  met.  Coeducation  is  not  popular,  or  at  least 
not  fashionable,  in  the  East;  but  there  are  in  New 
York  State  alone  three  coeducational  universities 
of  over  six  thousand  students  each  —  Cornell, 
Syracuse,  and  New  York.  All  the  leading  univer- 
sities of  the  country,  East  or  West,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Princeton  and  some  Catholic  institutions, 
admit  women  to  summer  schools  or  "lake  other 
provision  for  them.  At  Columbia  and  Yale  women 
are  admitted  to  the  regular  graduate  course  on  the 
same  terms  as  men. 

Of  the  563  colleges  and  universities  listed  in  the 
1916  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of 
Education  about  sixty  per  cent  are  coeducational, 
twenty-five  per  cent  are  for  men  only,  and  fiftt 
per  cent  are  for  women  only.  Of  the  institutions 
that  exclude  women  more  than  a  third  are  Roman 
Catholic,  and  many  of  the  others  are  technical 


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252   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDTJC  ATION 

schools  or  theological  seminaries.  Coeducations 
schools  now  provide  about  ninety-six  per  cent  (i 
the  elementary  education  and  ninety  per  cent  c 
the  secondary  education  in  the  United  States 
The  attendance  of  women  at  institutions  of  highe 
education  has  more  than  doubled  since  1893.  Th 
trend  for  three  decades  is  shown  by  the  followinj 
figures: 

ENROLLMENT  OF  WOMEN 


H 

1 1 


In  womerCs 

In  coeducational 

colleges 

colleges 

1893 

12.300 

13,058 

1903 

16,744 

26,990 

1913 

19,142 

55,564 

If  we  regard  the  high  schools  as  giving  a  libera 
education  —  and  some  of  them  are  better  than  th( 
colleges  of  a  hundred  years  ago  —  more  womer 
than  men  are  being  liberally  educated.  The  appre- 
hensions formerly  entertained  of  physical,  mental, 
and  moral  injury  to  women  through  college  worls 
have  been  proved  illusory  by  a  half  cent'iry  of  ex- 
perience, and  the  only  questions  now  under  dis- 
cussion concern  the  place  and  the  character  of  such 
education. 


of  such 


CHAPTER  XVII 


THE  NEW   EDUCATION 


The  democracy  which  proclaims  equality  of  opportunity  as  its 
ideal  requires  an  education  in  which  learning  and  social  applica- 
tion, ideas  and  practice,  work  and  recognition  of  the  meaning  of 
what  is  done,  are  united  from  the  beginning  and  for  all.  — John 
Dewey. 


What  is  "the  new  education?"  And  why  is  it 
called  "new"?  The  second  question  is  perhaps 
harder  to  answer  than  the  first.  The  new  educa- 
tion is  distinguished  by  the  broadness  of  its  course 
of  study.  It  is  probable  that  the  boy  or  girl  of  ten 
in  a  good  city  school  is  now  learning  a  greater 
variety  of  interesting  and  important  things  than 
the  average  university  student  of  a  century  ago. 
Public  education  began  with  what  may  be  called 
the  "  tool "  subjects  —  reading,  writing,  and  arith- 
metic—  because  they  are  chiefly  important  as 
instruments  in  the  acquisition  and  use  of  informa- 
tion rather  than  bodies  of  knowledge  m  themselves. 
Then  in  the  early  days  of  the  republic  there  were 
added  "information"  or  "content"  subjects,  such 

253 


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M4   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

as  geography,  history,  and  natural  science. 
very  recent  years  what  may  be  called  "self-exp 
sion"  subjects,  including  music,  drawing,  cook 
carpentry,  and  calisthenicsi,  were  introduced  ; 
the  schools  as  fast  as  public  opinion  would  pen 
All  these  have  their  practical  side  and  in  u  sj 
are  "tool"  subjects  as  truly  as  the  three  R*s, 
they  are  also  designed  to  provide  an  opportui 
for  a  motor  response  which  would  balance  the 
stract  and  bookish  studies  and  give  the  child  i 
thinks  in  concrete  terms  a  chance  to  show  pract 
ability  and  constructive  skill. 

More  significant  than  the  change  in  the  curr: 
lum  is  the  alteration  which  took  place  in  the  r 
tion  between  teacher  and  pupil.  The  attempi 
reduce  an  active  child  to  a  state  of  passive  c 
dience  in  which  he  would  offer  the  least  resista 
to  the  information  poured  into  him  has  larf 
given  place  to  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  teac 
to  entice  the  dull  or  shy  youngster  into  activ 
The  old  schoolroom  motto  was:  "Don't  sp 
until  you  are  spoken  to!"  The  new  motto  mi 
well  be:  "Tell  me  what  your  thought's  like." 

Finally,  the  new  education  postpones  the 
troduction  of  a  new  subject  until  the  child  ( 
understand  its  use  in  his  own  life.    There  can  be 


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THE  NEW  EDUCATION  «33 

question  of  the  soundness  of  the  principle  that  the 
form  in  which  instruction  is  given  should  always 
take  into  consideration  the  age  of  the  child  and  his 
interests  at  that  age,  although  once  in  a  while  the 
teacher  is  disconcei  !  by  finding  a  prpil  who  'mI- 
vances  too  rapidly  in  the  scale  of  evolution  and  who 
wants  to  read  Alexander  Pope  when  he  "ought" 
to  be  enraptured  with  Indian  life  as  depicted 
in  Hiawatha. 

To  a  great  extent  the  new  education  is  new  only 
in  the  sense  that  the  school  now  teaches  what  once 
was  learned  outside  its  walls.  The  twentieth  cen- 
tury lad  who  learns  at  school  tu  swim,  to  play  ball, 
to  build  bird-houses,  to  care  for  a  vegetable  Tarden, 
or  to  mend  a  broken  lock,  and  the  girl  who  studies 
cooking,  sewing,  housework,  first  aid  to  the  injured, 
and  piano  practice,  may  graduate  no  wiser  than 
the  children  of  u  past  generation  who  did  all  these 
things  on  the  farm  and  went  to  school  for  a  few 
weeks  in  winter  to  learn  spelling  and  copper-plate 
penmanship.  The  new  methods  in  education  are 
largely  based  on  principles  that  have  been  the  com- 
monplaces of  educational  theorists  for  generations. 
But  it  is  not  often  that  the  theorist  and  the  practi- 
cal teacher  are  one.  In  America,  especially,  the 
new  education  has  come  into  existence  from  the 


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M«   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

Actual  experience  of  teachers  who  had  a  genuin 
love  of  children  and  an  experimental  habit  of  min 
but  very  little  educational  tradition  behind  then 
America  has  produced  several  great  school  orgai 
ixers  and  many  great  teachers  but  less  than  he 
share  of  distinguished  educational  philosopher: 
The  little  republic  of  Switzeriand.  which  was  th 
birthplace  of  Rousseau  and  Pestalozzi  and  whic 
gave  to  this  country  our  most  inspiring  teacher  c 
zoology,  Louis  Agassiz,  and  the  man  who  revolt 
tionized  the  teaching  of  geography  in  our  school: 
Arnold  Guyot,  has  made  a  greater  proportional 
contribution  to  educational  scierce  than  the  Unit  j 
States.  America  has  achieved  distinct. ^n  chiefl; 
in  the  realization  of  educational  reforms  in  curren 
practice.  And  this  we  owe  not  only  to  such  leader 
as  Mann,  Barnard,  and  Clinton,  but  to  the  faith 
ful  work  of  the  rank  and  file  of  teachers  in  .  hoc 
and  college. 

Very  rarely  have  even  the  ablest  teachers  risei 
to  a  ploce  in  history,  unless  they  came  into  promi 
nence  by  their  public  activities  or  their  productiv( 
scholarship  or  after  leaving  the  profession.  Whei 
they  have  become  famous  as  teachers  it  is  usually 
because  their  genius  has  been  reflected  in  the  repu 
tation  attained  by  their  pupils  in  more  spectaculai 


A  nam  of  the  Bviwitm  » tMU  poitiu  at 
NEW  merm 

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THE  NEW  EDUCATION  257 

fields.     While  Mark  Hopkins,  to  select  but  one 
example,  was  President  of  Williams  College,  there 
were  graduated  men  lator  prominent  in  varied 
fields:  Supreme  Court  Justice  Stephen  J.  Field; 
David  A.  Wells,  the  economist;  William  Keith 
Brooks,   the  zoologist;  James  H.   Canfield,   the 
librarian;  Senator  John  J.  Ingalls  of  Kansas;  Gen- 
eral Samuel  C.  Armstrong,  founder  of  Hampton 
Institute;  and  President  Jan^es  A.  Garfield.    Gar- 
field paid  to  his  old  college  president  the  famous 
tribute  that  a  student  on  one  end  of  a  log  and  Mark 
Hopkins  on  the  other  would  make  a  university  any- 
where.   We  might  also  include  in  this  list  of  Wil- 
liams men  two  popular  authors,  Eugene  Field  and 
E.  P.  Roe,  although  they  did  not  stay  to  take  their 
degrees.    The  mention  of  General  Armstrong  sug- 
gests another  good  example  of  what  one  might 
term  "educational  heredity,"  for  it  was  at  Hamp- 
ton Institute  that  Booker  T.  Washini^ion  received 
his  education,  and  he  in  turn  taught  in  Tuskegee 
Institute  many  of  the  leaders  of  the  negro  race  and 
the  educators  of  yet  another  generation. 

From  the  American  teachers  who  have  intro- 
duced new  methods  into  the  schools  it  seems  an 
injustice  to  select  any,  because  there  is  no  State  in 
the  Union  and  probably  no  large  community  that 


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258    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

cannot  remember  the  coming  of  a  teacher  whon 
pupils  and  parents  recognized  as  "different,"  wh< 
turned  courses  of  study  upside  down,  introduce! 
novel  methods,  and  broke  down  the  barriers  whicl 
custom  had  erected  between  the  teacher  and  th< 
taught.  The  careers  of  very  few  must  be  taker 
as  typical  of  the  lives  and  work  of  many,  equallx 
devoted  and  equally  successful. 

One  of  the  names  that  comes  most  easily  to  mine] 
is  that  of  Edward  Austin  Sheldon,  who  founded  tht 
normal  school  at  Oswego,  New  York.  He  did  not 
begin  his  career,  however,  by  teaching  Luucational 
method  but  by  teaching  the  children  of  the  slums 
to  read  and  write.  While  living  in  Oswego  he  was 
m-'ch  affected  by  the  misery  of  the  city  poor  and 
even  more  so  by  their  ignorance.  He  helped  to 
found  a  "Free  School  Association"  and  was  re- 
warded for  his  efforts  by  being  chosen  as  school- 
master at  three  hundred  dollars  a  year.  What  the 
youngsters  thought  of  his  teaching  may  best  be 
summarized  in  the  words  of  his  daughter :  "As  my 
father  went  to  work  of  a  morning  his  warm-hearted 
Irish  children  trooped  about  him,  seizing  him  by 
the  fingers  or  the  coat-tails,  wherever  they  could 
best  catch  hold,  to  the  great  amusement  of  the 
storekeepers  and  the  passers-by." 


%V 


k'l 


THE  NEW  EDUCATION  259 

So  well  did  the  free  school  in  Oswego  prosper 
that  Sheldon  was  called  to  be  superintendent  of 
schools  :n  the  city  of  Syracuse  and  later  in  Oswego. 
As  superintendent  in  these  two  cities,  he  made  the 
school  system  a  means  to  the  education  of  the 
teachers  as  well  as  the  children.    His  great  reform 
was  in  decreasing  the  use  of  the  text-book  and  in- 
creasing the  use  of  object  lessons.     No  teacher 
could  longer  shelter  incompetence  with  the  speller 
and  the  geography  and  reduce  the  art  of  instruction 
to  routine  question  and  answer.    From  behind  the 
fallen  breastworks  of  the  book  emerged  a  human 
being,  the  teacher,  who  entered  into  a  personal 
relationship  with  the  children  and  taught  from  his 
own  knowledge  and  with  his  own  skill. 

Using  the  experience  he  had  gathered  as  a 
teacher  and  a  school  superintendent,  Edward 
Sheldon  started  a  normal  school  in  1861.  The  new 
methods  of  instruction  had  one  disadvantage  as 
compared  with  the  old;  they  were  not  fool-proof. 
Anybody  could  teach  geology  or  botany  from  a 
book,  but  to  teach  such  subjects  from  specimens 
required  skill  to  prevent  instruction  from  degen- 
erating into  the  presentation  of  a  mere  assortment 
of  unrelated  scraps  of  fact.  :  .erefore  school- 
masters who  were  simply  told  by  a  superintendent 


1 


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260   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

that  the  time  had  come  to  introduce  the  "objec 
method"  in  their  classes  were  often  wholly  at  t 
loss  how  to  set  about  doing  it.  To  meet  this  nee( 
the  Oswego  normal  school  was  founded.  It  wa 
not  the  first  normal  school  in  the  country,  but  i 
was  for  its  time  the  most  influential,  not  onl^ 
because  of  the  new  methods  introduced  but  evei 
more  from  the  inspiring  presence  of  Sheldon  an( 
the  able  corps  of  assistants  whom  he  brought  to  th( 
school  from  different  parts  of  the  country  and  fron 
foreign  nations.  Edward  Sheldon  remained  hea( 
of  the  school  until  his  death  in  1897. 

One  of  the  most  radical  innovators  who  evei 
taught  in  an  American  school  was  the  gentle  Ne\^ 
England  philosopher,  Amos  Broi.jon  Alcott.  Al 
cott  was  born  on  a  Connecticut  farm,  but  he  speni 
much  of  his  youth  peddling  books  through  tht 
South.  Returning  to  Connecticut  in  1823,  he  tool 
up  school  teaching  —  the  usual  trade  in  those  dayj 
for  a  bookish  Yankee  who  did  not  know  just  what 
use  he  could  make  of  his  talents.  In  his  school  at 
Cheshire  he  forthwith  began  to  try  various  experi- 
ments. He  abolished  the  old  long  benches  and 
gave  a  separate  seat  and  desk  to  every  scholar, 
introduced  the  use  of  blackboards,  and  started  a 
school  library.     He  gave  gymnastics  and  nature 


i-''^' 


THE  NEW  EDUCATIOxN  S61 

study  a  far  more  prominent  place  in  the  course  of 
study  than  had  been  the  custom  even  in  the  best 
schools.  Perhaps  the  greatest  change  he  intro- 
duced was  in  the  melnod  of  discipline.  He  shared 
the  task  of  keeping  oider  with  his  pupils  by  in- 
stituting school  "juries'*  to  try  offenses  against  the 
rules.  Definite  offices  were  assigned  to  the  children, 
such  as  superintendent,  recorder,  librarian,  and 
conservator.  Within  a  few  years  from  the  begin- 
ning of  his  pedagogical  career  Alcott  had  attained 
the  distinction  of  teaching  what  was  called  "the 
best  common  School  in  this  State,  perhaps  in  the 
United  States."  In  return  for  his  labors,  Alcott 
received  nation-wide  fame  and  twenty-seven 
dollars  a  month. 

But  such  prosperity  could  not  continue.  So 
many  reforms  at  once  aroused  the  fears  of  anxious 
parents  that  Alcott  was  using  his  school  to  try  out 
pet  theories  on  their  children  while  neglecting  the 
fundamentals  of  sound  knowledge  and  strict  dis- 
cipline. Forced  to  resume  his  travels,  Alcott  under- 
took teaching  in  Boston,  in  Philadelphia,  and  in 
st/eral  smaller  cities,  but  his  obstinate  refusal  to 
compromise  with  the  kind  of  education  which  par- 
ents usually  expected  made  it  impossible  for  him  to 
hold  one  position  for  any  great  length  of  time. 


;n    f 


«0«   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

Emerson  said  of  this  "American  Pestalozzi,' 
as  he  was  sometimes  called:  "A)rT.»t  declares  tha 
a  teacher  is  one  who  can  ass«''  ohilcl  in  obeyinj 

his  own  mind.  ...  He  meah'jr'^s  ages  by  leader 
and  reckons  history  by  Pythagoras,  Plato,  Jesus  - 
and  Pestalozzi.  In  his  own  school  in  Boston  wher 
he  had  made  the  schoolroom  beautiful  he  looked  or 
the  work  us  half  done." 

What  sort  of  education  Alcott  had  in  mind  wher 
he  opened  his  school  at  the  Masonic  Temple  al 
Boston  may  be  seen  in  quotations  from  his  diarj 
of  1835: 

In  addition  to  the  statuary  and  painting  at  the  school- 
room I  added  today  a  fine  cast  of  Silence.  It  will  aid 
me  in  the  work  of  discipline.  ...  I  have  sent  to 
England  for  copies  of  Pilgrim's  Progress  and  Fainj 
Queen,  since  fine  copies  of  neither  could  be  found  in 
Boston.  .  .  .  Except  in  my  own  school,  I  know  of  no 
provision  for  the  culture  of  the  imagination  by  specific 
tuition  anywhere  in  our  country;  I  seldom  hear  anyone 
speak  of  the  importance  of  cultivating  it.  And  yet,  if 
any  fact  be  settled  bj  history,  it  is  that  imagination 
has  been  the  guiding  impulse  of  society. 

If  Alcott  had  lived  to  attend  the  normal  schools 
and  teachers'  institutes  of  the  twentieth  century 
he  would  have  heard  no  lack  of  talk  of  the  "impor- 
tance of  cultivating  the  imagination,"  and  he  might 


d  1...^ 


THE  NEW  EDUCATION 
even  have  found  schools  where  the  child  who  can 
write  a  fairy  story  receives  more  commendation 
than  an  unimaginative  classmate  whose  fancy  does 
not  soar  beyond  the  multiplication  table.  But  in 
Alcott's  day  repression  rather  than  self-expression 
was  the  road  to  learning,  and  few  understood  his 
daring  paradox:  "The  true  teacher  defends  his 
pupils  against  his  own  personal  influence." 

But  in  fitting  up  his  school  so  handsomely  Alcott 
had  broken  not  only  precedents  but  pocketbook. 
After  five  years  the  Temple  School  came  to  an  end, 
chiefly  because  he  had  offended  the  community  by 
admitting  a  colored  girl  to  his  class  and  by  writing 
Conversations  vnth  Children  on  the  Gospels,  a  So- 
cratic  dialogue  which  strayed  too  widely  from 
the  path  of  orthodoxy  and  conventionality.  A 
distinguished  Harvard  professor  was  quoted 
as  saying  that  "one-third  of  Mr.  Alcott's  book 
was  absurd,  one-third  blasphemous,  and  one- 
third  obscene." 

Discouraged  by  these  repeated  failures,  Alcott 
abandoned  teaching  in  the  formal  sense  of  the  word 
and  devoted  the  rest  of  his  life  to  lecturing,  writing, 
and  conversation.  At  one  time  he  experimented 
with  a  communistic  colony,  "Fruitlands,"  where 
philosophic  discourse   might  be  combined   with 


•  I  If. 
11  M 


"3    i 


I.  ■'■■  • 


:(  i 


t04  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

outdoor  life  and  a  strict  vegetarian  diet.  Lowe 
well  summed  up  his  friend  Alcott  in  the  lines: 

For  his  highest  conceit  of  a  happiest  state  is 
Where  they'd  live  upon  acorns  and  hear  him  tal 

gratis; 
And  indeed,  I  believe,  no  man  ever  talked  better. 

His  daughter,  Louisa  May  Alcott,  made  use  < 
these  scholcstic  and  communistic  experiences  i 
her  LUth  Men  and  Transcendental  Wild  Oats. ' 

An  equally  radical  but  much  more  influentii 
and  practical  teacher  was  Colonel  Parker.  Lil 
many  other  educational  reformers,  Francis  Wa^ 
land  Parker  was  himself  educated  in  a  country  di; 
trict  school  and  began  his  teaching  career  on  tl 
lowest  rung  of  the  educational  ladder,  when  a  la 
of  only  sixteen,  in  the  schools  of  hip  native  Stal 
of  New  Hampshire.  A  few  years  later  he  was  calle 
to  be  a  principal  in  Carrolton,  Illinois,  where  tli 
schools  were  reputed  to  be  unusually  "tough. 
Here  he  showed  himself  to  be  the  very  man  for  tt 
place,  but  his  career  was  interrupted  by  the  oui 
break  of  the  Civil  War.  Parker  enlisted  as  a  pr 
vate  and  left  the  army  as  a  brevet  colonel  with 
brilliant  war  record. 

'  A.  Branson  AlcoU.  Hit  Life  and  Philosophy,  by  F.  B.  Sanboi 
and  W.  T.  Harris  (1888). 


THE  NEW  EDUCATION  t65 

After  the  war.  Colonel  Parker  returned  to  hu  old 
profession  and  taught  in  New  Hampshire  and  in 
Dayton,  Ohio.   In  1872  he  went  to  Germany,  then 
the  fountain-head  of  educationa'  'ore,  and  on  his 
return  he  became  superintendent  of  schools  at 
Quincy,  Massachusetts.     Here  he  found  oppor- 
tunities which  any  school  reformer  might  envy,  for 
the  local  school  board,  under  the  leadership  of 
Charles  Francis  Adorns,  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished  and  induential  of  New  England  statesmen, 
gave  Parker  unlimited  power  and  unhesitating 
support.    He  dropped  the  speller,  the  reader,  the 
grammar,  and  the  copy-book  from  the  schools,  and 
had  the  use  of  the  English  language  taught  by 
means  of  ordinary  books  and  papers.     Natural 
history,  wi*h  classes  both  indoors  and  out,  he  made 
a  leading  part  of  the  school  work  even  in  the  lowest 
grades.   But  Parker's  most  striking  innovation  was 
the  encouragement  which  he  gave  to  the  teachers 
of  Quincy  to  make  experiments  on  their  own  ac- 
count.   Too  frequently  the  reforming  superintend- 
ent is  a  martinet  who  uses  his  authority  to  force 
others  to  carry  out  his  plans  blindly  and  who  re- 
sents any  self-assertion  from  the  teacher  as  dis- 
loyalty.   Superintendent  Parker,  however,  was  a 
welcome  visitor  to  teacher  and  pupil  alike  when 


!      , 
1    ; 

I  i 


!l 


i|i:^ 


«W   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

he  entered  a  claMroom,  crayon  in  hand,  to  gi^ 
a  demonKtration  lesson.    He  sometimes  told 
teacher  who  had  ventured  on  school  reforms  thi 
awoke  resentment  among  the  conservative:  "] 
they  get  after  you,  they  must  take  me  first." 

It  was  not  long  before  Quincy  became  the  mo! 
interesting  town  in  the  country  to  students  of  edi 
cation,  and  for  a  time  some  six  thousand  visitoi 
came  every  year  to  Quincy  to  study  the  school 
and  the  methods  of  tead  ing.  Popularity  at  las 
became  too  much  of  an  interruption  to  the  regul« 
work,  the  teachers  and  pupils  felt  that  they  wer 
on  exhibition  all  day  long,  and  the  school  boar 
was  obliged  to  limit  the  number  of  visitors.  Af  te 
five  years  in  Quincy,  Colonel  Parker  went  to  Bos 
ton  and  then  to  Chicago,  where  he  was  princips 
of  the  Cook  County  Nor-  »  1  School.  Parker  one 
again  found  himself  the  storm-center  of  a  grea 
controversy.  He  insisted  upon  excluding  from  en 
trance  to  the  normal  school  persons  without  a  goo< 
high  school  education  and  this  step,  though  in  lin< 
with  the  demand  of  the  times  for  a  higher  standan 
in  the  teaching  profession,  was  widely  resented. 

There  were  many,  also,  who  were  suspicious  o 
the  attempts  to  teach  without  the  text-book  in  th( 
lower  grades.   It  "^as  not  forgotten  that  a  principa 


THE  NEW  EDUCATION 

hftd  once  Oiiked  Colonel  Purkvr:  "Do  you  mean 
to  say  that,  if  the  ncltool  lioard  made  the  children 
buy  spelling  books  and  take  them  to  school,  you 
wi  in't  use  them?"  "Oh,  yes,"  said  the  genial 
Colonel,  "I'd  use  them;  of  course  I  would;  I'd  put 
'em  into  the  stove  and  heat  the  house  'vith  them." 

After  some  years  of  agitation  and  debate  the 
city  of  Chicago  took  over  the  Cook  County  Nor- 
mal School,  and  soon  thereafter  Colonel  Parker 
became  head  of  the  Chicago  Institute,  which  later 
became  part  of  the  University  of  Chicago.  The 
School  of  Education  of  that  University  soon  be- 
came famous  through  the  work  of  John  Dewey, 
who  has  perhaps  done  more  to  spread  the  ideals  of 
the  new  education  among  the  teachers  of  America 
than  any  other  living  educator.  Dewey  brought 
to  the  task  what  most  of  the  earlier  reformers 
had  lacked,  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  science 
of  psychology  upon  which  educational  theory  and 
practice  must  be  based  and  a  full  realization  of  the 
social  importance  of  education. ' 

The  value  of  the  changes  made  in  recent  years 
in  the  subjects  and  methods  of  teaching  in  Ameri- 
can schools  must  await  the  verdict  of  the  final 

'  For  a  sketch  of  the  lif ;  and  educational  ideals  of  John  Dewey 
see  the  author's  Six  Majm  Prophet*  (1917). 


ii 


«68   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

court  of  public  opinion,  and  this  opinion  must  b 
based  upon  experience.  Some  of  the  critics  o 
modern  education  have  expressed  the  fear  that,  b; 
overloading  the  curriculum  and  laying  less  empha 
sis  on  memory  drill,  the  teachers  of  today  permi 
their  pupils  to  enter  business  life  or  college  witl 
very  shaky  ideas  as  to  the  multiplication  table  an( 
incapable  of  writing  a  correctly  spelled  letter  with 
out  the  aid  of  a  dictionary.  The  charge  of  dete 
rioration  is  plausible,  but  the  evidence  to  prove  it  ii 
lacking.  Indeed,  an  interesting  experiment  carriec 
out  a  few  years  ago  at  Springfield,  Massachusetts 
seems  to  indicate  the  contrary.  A  set  of  old  ex 
amination  papers,  grades  and  all,  was  unearthec 
and  used  for  the  examination  of  a  lifge  class  ol 
school  children.  The  marks  given  on  the  test  tc 
the  twentieth  century  children  in  such  "fundamen- 
tal "  studies  as  spelling,  arithmetic,  and  geography 
showed  a  great  improvement  over  the  grades  made 
by  their  forefathers. 

Another  charge  brought  against  the  school  of 
today  is  that  it  is  wholly  "feminized,"  owing  to 
coeducation  and  the  almost  universal  employment 
of  women  teachers  in  the  elementary  grades.  In 
the  four  decades  from  1870  to  1910  the  number  of 
male  teachers  in  the  common  schools  increased  by 


THE  NEW  EDUCATION  269 

41  per  cent  and  the  number  of  female  teachers  by 
190  per  cent.    This  change  has  been  due  in  part  to 
the  disappear  r^ce  of  the  prejudices  which  kept 
women  fr. m  profcs-.io:..  1  life  and  in  part  to  the 
failure  of  \h   school  .uthorities  to  raise  salaries 
rapidly  eno.y''  *o  .  ttract  competent  men  to  teach 
in  the  primary  and  elementary  grades.    One  mem- 
ber of  the  British   Mosely   Commission,   which 
visited  the  United  States  to  study  the  schools, 
declared  that  the  low  average  of  attainment  in  our 
high  schools  could  be  traced  to  "the  preponder- 
ance of  women  teachers,"  and  that  to  the  same 
cause  might  be  attributed  the  deplorable  fact  that 
"the  boy  in  America  is  not  being  brought  up  to 
punch  another  boy's  head  or  to  stand  having  his 
own  punched  in  a  healthy  and  proper  manner." 
Without  questioning  this  British  standard  of  man- 
liness, one  may  nevertheless  note  that,  during  this 
period  of  "feminization,"  athletics  have  had  a 
phenomenal  growth  and  that  the  world's  cham- 
pionship in  most  of  the  sports  has  passed  into 
American  hands. 

More  serious  than  the  complaints  of  a  too  elabo- 
rate course  of  study  and  of  too  much  femininity 
in  the  school  is  the  charge  that  the  modern  school 
permits  the  machinery  of  a  "system"  to  eclipse 


ill 


mi 

,   1 

t  \              i 

' 

t 

J 

> 

t 

, 

A    i 


270   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

the  common  sense  of  the  classroom.     Thus  th( 
plan  so  well  worked  out  by  William  A.  Wirt  ii 
Gary,  Indiana,  for  a  school  day  which  combine? 
study,  play,  and  work,  can  be  made  a  mere  devic( 
for  keeping  every  part  of  the  school  building  in  use 
and  so  avoiding  the  expense  of  new  construction 
The  idea  of  education  for  citizenship  by  an  active 
study  of  the  industries  upon  which  our  civilization 
depends  for  its  existence,  rightly  advocated  bj 
such  educational  leaders  as  Charles  W.  Eliot  and 
John  Dewey,  may  easily  in  mechanical  hands  de- 
generate into  children's  polytechnics.   We  all  know 
how  much  educational  malpractice  can  go  on 
behind  such  impressive  names  as  Froebel  and  Mon- 
tessori!    But  all  this  simply  emphasizes  the  fact, 
as  true  of  the  old  education  as  of  the  new,  that  edu- 
cation is  at  bottom  simply  an  aflfair  of  the  interest- 
ing teacher  and  the  interested  pupil,  and  that  the 
libraries,  laboratories,  costly  equipment,  text-books, 
school  laws,  and  school  methods  are  Out  so  many 
opportunities  for  the  two  to  get  together.    On  the 
whole,  it  is  beyond  question  that  teacher  and  pu- 
pil now  understand  each  other  more  quickly  and  can 
benefit  each  other  more  completely  because  of  the 
good  work  done  by  such  men  as  Sheldon,  Alcott, 
Parker,  Dewey,  and  their  fellow  reformers. 


THE  NEW  EDUCATION  271 

The  United  States  has  been  throughout  its  his- 
tory an  educational  experiment  station  on  a  con- 
tinental scale.    The  diversity  of  local  control,  the 
parallel  systems  of  public  and  private  institutions 
from  kindergarten  to  university,  and  the  freedom 
of  the  frontier  communities  from  tradition  have 
given  opportunity  for  that  variation  which  is  es- 
sential to  all  evolution.    Visiting  educators  from 
countries  such  as  France  and  Germany,  where  the 
schools  are  strictly  regulated  and  centrally  con- 
trolled, are  amazed  and  amused  to  find  some 
schools  far  in  advance  of  their  own  in  equipment 
and  ideals,  while  others  are  using  crude  and  primi- 
tive methods   elsewhere   abandoned.     But   this 
differentiation  has  made  it  possible  to  compare  the 
working  of  various  plans  in  a  way  that  would  be 
impc-      '?  in  a  country  where  greater  uniformity 
is  eni         '     Education,  since  it  consists  largely  in 
transmitting  to  the  rising  generation  the  accumu- 
lated wisdom  of  the  past,  is  essentially  a  process 
of  conservation,  and  therefore  educators  have  a 
natural  tendency  to  become  conservative.     But 
American  educators  have  been  comparatively  free 
from  thi?  ^^ndency  and  have,  indeed,  sometimes 
erred  on  the  other  side.    They  are  quick  to  adopt 
—  at  least  in  name  —  new  methods  from  overseas 


IF  h 
lb 
1    i'i 

^-  II 


■:f 


» 


272  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 
and  to  borrow  bright  ideas  from  one  another.  If  a 
school  superintendent  introduces  some  educational 
novelty,  though  it  may  not  be  altogether  original 
or  very  revolutionary,  the  fame  of  it  speedily 
sprejids  through  the  land,  and  other  cities  take  it 
up  in  their  eagerness  to  be  in  the  van  of  progress. 
The  voluminous  educational  literature,  the  fre- 
quent teachers'  meetings,  the  county  institutes, 
and  the  educational  associations  aflFord  oppor- 
tunity for  this  rapid  contagion  of  ideas.  Such  a 
readiness  to  change  plans  sometimes  leads  to  con- 
fusion and  loss  of  energy.  A  child  who  has  to  alter 
the  style  of  his  handwriting  t^  'o  or  three  times  is 
not  likely  to  leave  school  a  good  penman.  It  has 
been  found  necessary  to  check  by  legislation  the 
disposition  to  change  text-books  every  year  on  the 
theory  that  the  latest  must  be  the  best.  But  al- 
though mutability  may  be  a  defect  of  the  American 
temperament,  it  is  also  one  of  the  main  factors 
in  the  national  progress.  If  education  is  to  keep 
pace  with  material  advance,  the  teacher  must  be 
as  ready  as  the  manufacturer  to  scrap  a  piece  of 
antiquated  machinery. 


■'  if, 


if 


CHAPTER  XVIII 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF   TODAY 

Popular  education  is  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  thoae 
conditions  of  freedom,  political  and  social,  which  are  indispen- 
sable  to  free  individual  development.  —  Woodrow  Wihon. 

The  development  of  educational  institutions  in 
America  has  come  in  part  through  the  normal 
growth  and  multiplication  of  earlier  foundations. 
In  some  instances  a  transformation  so  complel  • 
has  been  effected  as  to  make  the  old  institution 
unrecognizable  in  the  new.  This  is  especially  the 
case  with  the  university.  There  were  "universi- 
ties" from  the  beginning  of  American  nationality, 
yet  the  word  in  its  European  and  modern  sense 
could  hardly  be  applied  to  any  American  institu- 
tion until  ten  years  after  the  Civil  War,  when 
graduate  and  professional  work  of  a  hi^h  order 
began  to  be  undertaken.  The  German  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Philosophy  was  granted  for  the  first  time 
in  America  at  Yale  in  I861.    Harvard  adopted  this 


4  I 


18 


«73 


:ii 


I  i 


I  i 


m 

wn 

' ' 

r   t        ■' 

( 

f 

^  f 

n 

274   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

degree  in  1872  and  Columbia  in  1884.    The  Ameri- 
can colleges  formerly  followed  the  custom  of  the 
English  in  granting  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts 
"in  course"  to  almost  anybody  who  was  willing  to 
Pay  for  it  three  years  after  graduation.    But  in 
1874  Yale  established  the  requirement  of  at  least 
one  year  of  gradupte  study,  and  this  has  since  be- 
come the  general  rule.    The  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Philosophy  now  stands  for  several  years  of  gradu- 
ate work  including  original  research.     In  1916 
American  universities  granted  this  degree  to  607 
persons;  and  more  than  half  of  these  degrees  were 
conferred  in  the  sciences  —  that  is,  in  subjects 
which  were  not  fully  received  into  the  curriculum 
until  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  Centennial  Year,  1876,  which  celebrated 
the  breaking  of  the  political  bonds  with  England, 
may  well  serv^  as  the  date  when  the  American 
colleges  definitely  threw  oflF  their,  subservience  to 
the  English  collegiate  tradition.  This  turning 
point  is  marked  by  the  establishment  of  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  which  was  chiefly  devoted, 
after  the  model  of  the  German  university,  to  gradu- 
ate study  and  research  and  which  admits  the  newer 
physical  and  political  sciences  to  equal  rank  with 
the  older  linguistic  subjects.    The  leading  Eastern 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  TODAY         £75 

colleges  set  about  developing  their  graduate  de- 
partments, and  one  by  one  they  began  to  call  them- 
selves "universities,"  while  the  State  Universities 
of  the  West  strove  to  live  up  to  their  names.  By 
far  the  greater  part  of  the  graduate  work  of  the 
country  is  done  in  the  endowed  universities  such 
as  Columbia,  Chicago,  Harvard,  Yale,  Johns  Hop- 
kins, Cornell,  Pennsylvania,  and  Clark,  though 
some  of  the  State  Universities  such  as  Wisconsin, 
Illinois,  California,  and  Michigan  are  sharing 
largely  in  this  training. 

The  era  of  splendid  generosity  that  set  in  during 
the  later  eighties  transformed  the  older  institutions 
and  added  such  new  ones  as  Clark  University  of 
Worcester,  Massachusetts,  founded  by  Jonas  G. 
Clark;  the  University  of  Chicago,  founded  by  John 
D.  Rockefeller;  and  Leland  Stanford,  Junior,  Uni- 
versity, founded  by  Senator  Leland  Stanford  of 
California.  These  three  universities,  opened  be- 
tween 1889  and  1892,  were  so  well  endowed  by 
their  founders  that  from  the  start  they  took  equal 
rank  with  institutions  a  century  or  more  older. 

As  patrons  of  the  universities  usually  preferred 
to  have  their  donations  take  the  tangible  form  of 
buildings,  there  soon  arose  new  classrooms,  labora- 
tories, chapels,  libraries,  and  dormitories  that  quite 


rli 


276   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

outshone  the  more  primitive  and  utihtarian  strut 
tures  of  earh'er  days.   Formerly  buildings  had  bee 
put  up  one  by  one  at  long  intervals  as  the  .  eeds  a 
the  institution  demanded  and  its  funds  permitted 
The  campus  of  an  old  college  thus  became  a  sort  o 
architectural  museum  with  specimens  of  the  chang 
ing  fashions  of  a  century.     But  when  gifts  o 
millions  came  in  at  one  time  it  was  possible  to  plai 
harmonious  groups.    The  University  of  Chicag( 
adopted  for  all  its  buildings  the  English  collegiat< 
Gothic  in  gray  limestone  and  Stanford  Universitj 
an  Hispanic  Romanesque  style  in  red  and  yellovN 
with  mosaic  inlays.     Harvard  erected  a  unified 
group  of  five  marble  buildings  for  its  medical 
school,  and  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology in  1916  moved  to  a  new  site  on  the  Cam- 
bridge bank  of  the  Charles  River,  where  a  group 
of  buildings  ivi  classic  style  has  been  erected. 

The  imitation  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  models 
as  shown  in  the  new  buildings  of  Princeton,  Chi- 
cago, Pennsylvania,  and  elsewhere  is  indicative  of 
a  tendency  to  turn  again  to  England  for  educa- 
tional ideals.  Residential  halls  and  common  rooms 
were  established  in  many  places  in  order  to  get 
something  of  the  English  college  atmosphere,  and 
Princeton  introduced  a  preceptorial  system  of  per- 


Vh 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  TODAY         877 

sonal  instruction  in  small  groups  suggested  by  the 
tutorial  system  of  the  older  British  universities. 

With  increasing  wealth  and  luxury  on  the  part 
of  the  universities  came  a  desire  for  ceremonial 
display.  Commencement  ceremonies  which  had 
dropped  in  desuetude  were  revived  and  elabo- 
rated. Acj.  mie  costumes  of  the  medieval  style 
were  introduced  or  invented.  The  fashion  spread 
like  wildfire  from  East  to  West,  and  in  a  few 
years  mortar-board  caps  and  gorgeous  gowns 
were  to  be  seen  on  almost  every  campus  in 
the  country. 

Coincident  and  connected  with  the  rise  of  cere- 
monial was  the  development  of  athletics.    In  the 
early  days  colleges  were  disposed  to  frown  upon 
student  sports  and  in  some  cases,  as  at  Princeton, 
tried  to  prohibit  them;  but  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century  public  games  became  recog- 
nized by  the  college  authorities  as  the  most  eflFec- 
tive  form  of .  Ivertising  and  by  the  students  as  the 
quickest  road  to  fame.    A  gymnasium  came  to  be 
considered  as  necessary  as  a  library,  and  more 
money  was  spent  on  a  single  football  game  or  boat 
race  than  would  formerly  have  sufficed  to  run  the 
college  for  a  year.    In  the  modem  American  uni- 
versity the  stadium  has  assumed  an  importance 


«78   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

and  popularity  such  as  it  has  not  enjoyed  since  the 
fall  of  Rome  and  Byzantium. 

The  dominant  power  in  undergraduate  social  life 
of  today  is  the  fraternity,  a  unique  feature  of  the 
American  college,  though  it  corresponds  in  a  way 
to  the  corps  of  the  Germon  universities.    We  have 
already  noted  the  founding,  at  old  William  and 
Mary  in  the  Year  of  Independence,  of  the  first 
Greek-letter  society.  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  as  a  philo- 
sophical and  patriotic  organization.     In  conse- 
quence of  the  anti-masonic  agitation  of  1826  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  abandoned  its  ritualism  and  secrecy 
and  is  now  simply  an  honorary  fraternity  admitting 
about  a  tenth  of  the  seniors,  men  and  women  alike, 
on  the  ground  of  scholarship.    But  in  1826-27, 
even  when  the  popular  opposition  to  secret  societies 
was  most  fierce,  three  fraternities  —  Kappa  Alpha, 
Sigma  Phi,  and  Delta  Phi  — were  founded  at 
Union  College,  and  from  this  center  the  movement 
spread  rapidly  though  secretly  to  the  New  York 
and  New  England  colleges.    Since  then  the  fra- 
ternities have  continued  to  thrive  and  multiply, 
although  at  times  college  authorities.  State  Legis- 
latures, and  "barbarian     students  have  tried  to 
suppress  them.    At  the  present  time  there  are  over 
two    hundred   fraternities   and   sororities,   some 


♦1   I 


mi    \ 

I!       ! 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  TODAY         «7» 

academic  and  sonu*  profi'ssionul.some  local  and  some 
national,  certain  of  which  have  us  many  as  seventy- 
five  local  chapters.  These  societies  which  were 
once  outlaws  now  receive  practically  official  status 
in  the  college  organization  and,  instead  of  meeting 
in  woods  and  cellars,  are  allowed  to  have  their  hand- 
some chapter-houses  on  the  campus.  A  few  insti- 
tutions like  Princeton  retain  the  old  prohibition, 
but  at  Princeton  upper-class  dining  clubs  have 
grown  up  which  have  a  strong  resemblance  to  the 
Greek-letter  fraternities.  During  the  last  quarter 
of  a  century  the  membership  of  the  national  fra- 
ternities has  risen  from  72,000  to  about  270,000,  of 
whom  30,000  are  women.  They  own  or  rent  1100 
chapter-houses  valued  at  $8,000,000. 

The  chief  characteristics  of  the  recent  period  of 
American  education  are  expansion  and  diversifica- 
tion. Higher  education  has  burst  through  the  four 
walls  and  four  years  that  formerly  confined  it  and 
has  overflowed  the  land.  The  number  of  students 
studying  the  classics  increases  year  by  year,  but 
the  number  studying  new  subjects  increases  much 
more  rapidly.  The  older  colleges  in  the  country 
are  thriving  and  doing  better  work  than  ever,  but 
the  city  institutions  have  expanded  more  rapidly. 

The  rigid  requirements  for  entrance  to  college 


^ 


i  ^  . 


S80   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

and  the  prescribed  course  afterwards  were  broken 
down,  and  the  elective  system  provided  a  place  for 
new  studies.  The  efforts  of  Jefferson  to  introduce 
election  into  Virginia  and  of  George  Ticknor  to  do 
the  same  for  Harvard  had  been,  as  we  have  seen, 
unsuccessful;  but,  when  Charles  William  Elijt, 
a  chemist  with  radical  ideas  in  education,  became 
President  of  Harvard  in  1869,  he  was  able  in  the 
course  of  the  next  twenty-five  years  to  provide 
for  a  completely  elective  system.  The  example  of 
Harvard  was  followed  somewhat  hesitatingly  by 
almost  all  the  others. 

Another  university  president  of  similar  initiative, 
William  Rainey  Harper,  had  the  opportunity  in 
the  University  of  Chicago  of  creating  a  new  institu- 
tion instead  of  reformiug  an  old  one  and  was  i\\\i& 
able  to  introduce  many  innovations  that  have  been 
generally  adopted.  One  of  these,  the  continuation 
of  college  work  throughout  the  summer,  enables 
the  ambitious  student  to  complete  a  four  years' 
course  in  three  and  gives  teachers  from  other  in- 
stitutions an  opportunity  to  carry  on  graduate 
work.  The  university  of  Chicago  imported  th« 
idea  of  extension  courses  from  Oxford  and  also  es- 
tablished correspondence  courses.  Other  agencies 
for  making  education  accessible  to  the  largest 


%i' 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  T^^OAY         «8l 

pouible  number  of  Htudenti  Hurpcr  derived  from 
the  Chautauqua  Institution,  in  which  he  had  long 
been  active.  The  Chautuuqun  movement  started 
in  a  camp-meeting  of  Sunday  School  teachers  at 
Chautauqua  Lake.  New  York,  in  1874.  Similar 
assemblies  were  established  in  other  States  and  not 
only  served  to  stimulate  interest  in  systematic 
reading  but  afforded  a  platform  for  the  free  dis- 
cussion of  public  questions  that  has  had  as  great  an 
influence  over  {.  jlitics  as  the  earlier  lyceum  move- 
ment. From  the  platform  of  the  Chautauqua  as- 
semblies held  every  year  it  is  possible  to  speak  to 
five  million  people. 

It  is  usual  now  for  the  city  universities  to  give 
public  lecture  courses,  provide  evening  classes, 
and  otherwise  extend  their  privileges  to  those  not 
enrolled  as  regular  students.  Through  the  initia- 
tive of  the  late  Dr.  Henry  M.  Leipziger  the  City  of 
New  York  has  established  a  system  in  the  school 
buildings  of  free  evening  lectures  which  are  at- 
tended by  a  million  adult  auditors  a  year. 

Besides  stimulating  and  satisfying  the  educa- 
tional demands  of  the  American  people,  the  uni- 
versities have  extended  their  influence  to  foreigners, 
both  by  drawing  them  to  this  country  and  by  es- 
tablishing schools  in  other  lands.    As  the  home 


..  t 


*J, 


H  k 


282   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

missionary  movement  started  most  of  the  colleges 
west  of  the  Alleghanies,  so  the  foreign  missionaries 
carried  the  American  college  around  the  world. 
In  China  there  are  eighteen  colleges  and  univer- 
sities established  by  American  missionaries.  In 
Turkey  the  American  schools  accommodate  five 
thousand  collegiate  students.  Such  institutions  as 
Robert  College  and  the  American  College  for  Girls 
at  Constantinople  and  the  Syrian  Protestant  Col- 
lege at  Beirut  have  trained  the  leaders  of  the 
new  nationalities  emerging  from  the  chaos  of  the 
Great  War. 

The  sudden  extension  of  American  sovereignty 
in  1898  over  eight  million  Filipinos,  mostly  illiter- 
ate, brought  a  new  demand  upon  the  American 
school  system  to  which  it  has  nobly  responded. 
The  Government  undertook  the  unprecedented 
task  of  teaching  the  whole  of  the  rising  generation 
a  new  language.  Before  the  cannon  were  cool, 
schools  had  been  opened  with  soldier  teachers. 
The  first  Philippine  Commission  called  for  a  thou- 
sand schoolmasters  to  be  sent  from  America,  and 
these  volunteer  teachers  followed  closely  behind 
the  volunteer  army  as  it  progressed  in  the  pacifica- 
tion of  the  archipelago.  More  than  $3,000,000  a 
year  is  now  spent  on  education  in  the  Philippines. 


'M 


•ft     ■      :• 


'i  I 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  TODAY         283 

This  is  seven  times  as  much  in  proportion  to  the 
population  as  the  Dutch  spend  in  Java  and  six 
times  as  much  as  the  British  spend  in  India  for 
that  purpose. 

When  Japa  vsls  opened  to  the  world  by  Com- 
modore Perry  »n  1854,  American  missionaries  and 
teachers  took  an  active  part  in  the  work  of  regen- 
eration during  the  Era  of  Meiji  or  Enlightenment. 
The  mission  schools  soon  began  to  send  back  stu- 
dents who  often  beat  the  American  boys  in  their  own 
field.  The  Japanese  were  later  followed  by  Chinese 
in  still  larger  numbers,  owing  in  part  to  the  remis- 
sion of  $12,700,000  of  the  Boxer  indemnity  on  the 
understanding  that  the  Chinese  Government  would 
employ  it  in  sending  Chinese  students  to  America. 
There  are  now  about  2000  Chinese  in  American 
preparatory  schools  and  colleges  taking  chiefly 
engineering  and  the  industrial  sciences. 

More  recently  students  from  India  began  to 
come  in  large  numbers.  They  are  not  usually,  like 
the  Japanese  and  Chinese,  sent  with  the  aid  or  en- 
couragement of  the  Government  but  on  the  con- 
trary are  largely  nationalists  opposed  to  the  British 
rule.  Naturally  many  young  people  come  from 
Hawaii,  the  Philippines,  Porto  Rico,  and  Cuba  to 
be  educated  in  the  States,  and  more  than  formerly 


fi 


n  ; 


n 


'   '  I 


i: 


^'  ii  I 


ii.  t 


^!' 

t    , 

4., 

V 
r 

■- 

t 

1 

'1, 

r  1 

1 

;! 

1 

jiiM 

i 

284   AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

are  coining  from  South  America,  especially  Brazil. 
Owing  again  to  mission  schools,  Armenian,  Syrian, 
Turk,  Persian,  and  Bulgarian  students  are  here  by 
the  hundreds.  These  divers  nationalities  are  usu- 
ally organized,  together  with  a  limited  number  of 
American  students,  into  Cosmopolitan  Clubs,  and 
this  association  during  the  period  of  life  when 
friendships  are  formed  most  easily  has  done  much 
to  cultivate  what  President  Butler  calls  "the 
international  mind  "  in  American  universities. 

The  Great  War  proved  what  had  sometimes  been 
questioned  —  that  the  Unit  •  States  was  a  united 
people.  In  spite  of  the  div<  /  of  racial  elements 
and  family  connections  t  '  \\  the  belligerent 
nationalities  in  Europe,  the  youth  of  this  country 
responded  with  little  hesitation  to  the  call  to  arms. 
Few  European  countries  showed  such  unanimity  of 
opinion  in  this  crisis.  The  process  of  Americaniza- 
tion had  been  more  complete  than  even  the  optimis- 
tic had  hoped;  and  the  chief  credit  for  this  belongs 
to  the  public  school  system. 

Americans  had  a  double  duty  laid  upon  them. 
They  had  to  educate  not  only  their  own  children 
but  also  the  immigrants.  Though  the  latter  might 
not  be  illiterate,  they  had  usually  to  be  taught  the 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  TODAY         285 

English  language  and  American  ideals.  No  people 
ever  had  such  a  task  as  this  before  —  to  assimilate 
a  million  foreigners  a  year  —  and  it  is  perhaps  the 
finest  thing  which  could  be  said  of  the  American 
school  that  it  has  with  almost  incredible  complete- 
ness accomplished  this  gigantic  feat  of  naturaliza- 
tion through  education. 

The  pay-roll  of  an  American  coal  mine  or  steel 
works  today  reads  like  an  ethnological  map  of  the 
Balkans,  yet  the  children  of  the  workmen  are  thor- 
oughly Americanized.  Feuds  two  thousand  years 
old,  based  on  racial,  religious,  and  linguistic  diflPer- 
ences,  are  here  wiped  out  in  a  single  generation. 
The  tourist  traveling  a  thousand  miles  across  the 
United  States  will  observe  less  contrast  in  costume 
and  custom,  in  dialect  and  mode  of  thought,  than 
he  would  while  traveling  a  hundred  miles  in  many 
parts  of  Europe.  Yet  the  American  school  is  not  a 
leveling  machine.  Its  aim  is  not  the  suppression 
but  rather  the  cultivation  of  natural  diversity. 
The  "melting-pot"  metaphor  does  not  mean  that 
sometime  there  is  to  be  poured  out  a  homogeneous 
alloy  to  solidify  like  the  nations  of  the  Old  World. 
The  melting-pot  is  to  be  kept  melting.  The  Ameri- 
can idea  is  to  maintain  the  mass  constantly  fluid 
so  that  individual  particles  may  rise  and  fall  accord- 


I 


i!  s 


«88    AMERICAN  SPIRIT  IN  EDUCATION 

ing  to  their  specific  gravity.  Americanization 
means  the  obliteration  of  the  nationalistic,  tradi- 
tional, and  class  distinctions  of  Europe  in  order 
that  the  real  and  personal  distinctions  may  develop. 
Equality,  in  the  American  sense  of  the  word,  is  not 
an  end  but  a  beginning.  It  means  that,  so  far  as 
the  State  can  do  it,  all  children  shall  start  in  the 
race  of  life  on  an  even  line.  The  chief  agency  for 
this  purpose  is  the  public  school  system;  and  this 
aim  has  already  been  so  far  accomplished  that  in  a 
large  part  of  the  country  a  youth  of  sufficient  abil- 
ity to  profit  by  the  opportunity  can  get  any  educa- 
tion he  needs,  up  to  the  highest  professional  train- 
ing, without  spending  any  money  other  than  what 
he  can  make  by  his  own  exertions  during  his  course. 


1: 


^i'^ 


l\ 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


The  most  useful  single  work  of  reference  on  education 
in  America  is  the  Cyclopedia  of  Education  (1911-13), 
5  vols.,  edited  by  Paul  Monroe,  Professor  of  the  His- 
tory of  Education  in  Columbia  University.  The  ar- 
ticles by  more  than  a  thousand  individual  contribu- 
tors give  a  list  of  the  best  books  on  each  topic  which 
may  be  used  as  a  guide  to  further  reading.  The  annual 
Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education 
(usually  obtainable  from  Washington  for  the  asking) 
is  now  issued  in  two  vo'umes :  the  first  contains  reports 
of  all  important  movements  in  education  here  and 
abroad,  with  accounts  or  abstracts  of  conventions, 
surveys,  legislation,  books,  and  similar  matter;  the 
second  volume  contains  the  statistics  of  schools  of  all 
grades.  These  volumes  really  form  an  annual  ency- 
clopedia and  current  history  of  education.  Besides 
this  work,  the  Bureau  of  Education  publishes  various 
historical  monographs  in  the  form  of  circulars  and 
bulletins  and  a  monthly  bibliography  of  educational 
literature. 

The  series  of  twenty  brief  monographs  on  Education 
in  the  United  States  (1900),  2  vols.,  prepared  under  the 
editorship  of  Nicholas  Murray  Butler,  President  of 
Columbia  University,  for  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1900, 
gives  a  survey  of  the  field  at  that  date  with  some 

287 


n 


■-■J: 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

historical  background.  Thosewho  wish  to  explore  more 
thoroughly  the  byways  of  educational  history  will  find 
of  interest  the  special  studies  in  the  volumes  of  Henry 
Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education  (lS55-lS8i), 
32  vols.  Richard  G.  Boone's  Education  in  the  United 
States  (1889)  and  Edwin  G.  Dexter's  History  of  Educa- 
tion in  the  United  States  (1904)  are  detailed  chronicles 
in  the  general  field  of  American  education.  But  for 
later  and  more  adequate  studies  the  reader  should 
consult  the  monographs  in  the  Columbia  University 
Contributions  to  Philosophy,  Psychology,  and  Educa- 
tion;  and  Columbia  University,  Teachers  College, 
Contributions  to  Education.  A  valuable  special  study 
on  land  grants  and  other  public  endowments  is  Frank 
Blackmar's  History  of  Federal  and  State  Aid  to  Higher 
Education  (1890). 

Three  useful  works  by  Frank  Pierrepont  Graves  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania  —  The  History  of  Edu- 
cation in  Modern  Times  (1913),  A  Student's  History  of 
Education  (1915),  and  Great  Educators  of  Three  Cen- 
turies (1912) — relate  American  education  with  the 
educational  history  of  Europe.  In  this  connection 
should  also  be  mentioned  Will  S.  Monroe's  important 
History  of  the  Pestalozzian  Movement  in  the  United 
States  (1907).  The  History  of  Higher  Education  in 
America  (1906),  by  Charles  F.  Thwing  of  Western 
Reserve  University,  is  a  good  narrative  of  college  and 
university  development  made  especially  interesting 
by  quotations  from  contemporaries  and  by  accounts 
of  college  life.  For  those  interested  in  the  relation 
of  American  education  to  the  strife  of  political  par- 
ties and  social  classes  no  better  book  could  be  re- 
commended than  Frank  Tracy  Carlton's  Economic 


'.   ii  • 


M 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


289 


Influences  upon  Educational  Progress  in  the  United 
States,  1820-1860  (1908). 

For  contemporaneous  records  and  pictures  of  school 
life  the  reader  can  find  what  he  wants  in  such  books  as 
W.  H.  Small's  Early  New  England  Schools  (1914), 
Clifton  Johnson's  Old  Time  Schools  and  School  Books 
(1904),  and  Emily  N,  Vanderpoel's  Chronicles  of  a 
Pioneer  School  (1903). 

A.  E.  Winship's  Great  American  Educators  (1900), 
a  volume  of  brief  biographies  for  school  reading,  will 
be  found  by  adults  quite  as  profitable  as  less  interest- 
ing books.  Those  who  care  to  study  more  closely  the 
lives  of  leading  educators  will  find  available  abundant 
material  impossible  to  list  in  this  place.  Few  educators 
of  note  have  gone  without  their  Boswell,  and  some, 
such  as  Horace  Mann,  have  become  the  theme  of  a 
veritable  library.  There  are  also  special  histories  for 
every  important  college  and  university.  Great  Ameri- 
can Universities  (1909),  by  Edwin  E.  Slosson,  gives 
journalistic  impressions  of  fourteen  leading  American 
institutions. 

On  Catholic  education  the  reader  should  consult 
The  Catholic  Encyclopedia  (1907-12),  15  vols.;  the 
works  of  the  Reverend  James  A.  Burns,  The  Catholic 
School  System  in  the  United  States  (1908),  Catholic 
Education  (1917),  and  Growth  and  Development  of  the 
Catholic  School  System  in  the  United  States  (1912);  and 
also  the  History  of  the  ''aiholic  Church  in  the  United 
States  by  J.  G.  Shea  (1886-92),  4  vols.  The  fascinating 
story  of  the  Kentucky  pioneer  priests  may  be  found  in 
Sketches  of  the  Early  Catholic  Missions  in  Kentucky 
(1844)  by  M.  J.  Spalding  and  in  the  lives  of  Nerinckx 
by  Howlett  and  Maes. 


li^ 


!i 


ii 


'■{ 


S90 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


For  a  more  detailed  account  of  the  Catholic  teach* 
ing  communities,  founded  and  organized  by  remark- 
able women,  the  reader  should  consult:  M.  A.  McCann, 
The  History  of  Mother  Seton'a  Daughters  (1917);  Mary 
Aloysia  Hardey,  Religious  of  the  Sacred  Heart  (1910); 
Anna  B.  McGill,  The  Sisters  of  Charity  of  Nazareth, 
Kentucky  (1917);  George  Parsons  Lathrop,  A  Story  of 
Courage  (1894);  M.  J.  Brunowe,  The  College  of  Mt.  St. 
Vincent  (1917). 

In  the  footnotes  to  the  body  of  this  volume  the  atten- 
tive reader  will  have  found  several  references  to  other 
books  dealing  with  various  special  topics.  In  addition 
to  the  biographies  of  educators  and  chronicles  of 
schools  and  colleges,  there  are  monographs  on  educa- 
tional history  for  most  parts  of  the  Union  and  even  on 
the  school  systems  of  important  towns  and  cities.  Will 
S.  Monroe's  Bibliography  of  Education  (1897)  will  help 
the  conscientious  student  to  find  his  way  through  the 
forest  of  earlier  educational  literature,  and  the  current 
files  of  educational  periodicals  will  enable  him  to  keep 
abreast  with  the  incessant  output  of  new  works  in  the 
same  field. 


:-\f 


INDEX 


AcadcmU  V'irginicnsig  ct  Oxon- 
iensis,  name  fur  propoard 
college  in  Virginia  (1624),  Hi2 

Academies,  111-19;  attitude 
toward  high  schoolfl,  115; 
George  Clinton  on,  143 

Adams,  C.  K.,  adopt.i  German 
seminar  method,  178 

Adams,  II.  B.,  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son and  the  Univernty  of 
Virginia,  cited,  89  (note) 

Adams,  John,  101;  and  French 
educational  ideals,  109;  and 
education  of  women,  439-40 

Adams,  J.  Q..  and  national 
university,  102;  Mann  suc- 
ceeds in  CongreM,  135 

Adam«  Act  (1906).  225 

Agasdis.  Louis.  256 

Agricultural  colleges,  first  at 
Lansing  (Mich.).  176;  Jeffer- 
son's plan.  209-10.  iJU; 
DeWitt's  plan,  212-13; 
Queens  College  becomes 
agricultural.  213;  Maine 
College  of  Agriculture  and 
Mechanic  Arts,  213-14; 
under  Morrill  Act.  226-27; 
see  also  Morrill  Act 

Alabama,  school  legislation. 
238 

Alcott.  A.  B.,  260-64,  270 

Alcott,  Louisa  May.  daughter 
of  A.  B.,  264 

American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences  founded,  169 


Amrriean  Catholic  Quarterly, 
cited.  199  (note) 

American  College  for  Girls. 
Constantinople.  282 

American  Journal  of  Education, 
138-39 

American  Philosophical  So- 
ciety,  74 

.Americanization  through  pub- 
lie  school  system,  284-86 

.Vmherst  Agricultural  College, 
226-27 

.Ornish  in  Pennsylvania,  37 

.Vnnapolis,  King  William's 
School.  41;  Naval  Academy 
at.  99 

Antioch  College,  160;  Mann 
president  of,  135,  136;  co- 
education, 248 

.\pprentice  sy.stem.  209 

Argentina,  schools  influenced 
by  Horace  Mann.  137 

Arizona.  Cathnlir,  182 

.Arkansas,  teaching  communi- 
ties of  women  in,  197 

Armenia,  students  from.  284 

Armstrong.  General  S.  C, 
257 

Arnold,  Matthew,  tries  to 
introduce  German  methods 
into  English  schools.  175 

Athletics,  01-62,  269,  277-78 

B 

Badin.  Father  S.  T..  first  priest 
ordained  in  United  States, 
195 


C91 


]ii 


8M 


INDEX 


t    -♦ 


H 


Bailey,  L.  II.,  on  influence  of 
the  Morrill  Act,  SSl-94 

Baker  University,  Baldwin 
(Kan.).  admiU  women.  HH 

Baltimore,  Fir»t  ProvinrinI 
Council,  recommendations 
on  re!if(ioua  educa  t  ion  (1 H29) . 
198;  Third  Plenary  ("ounril 
orders  parochial  ichoolii 
(1884),  108-99 

Bancroft,  George,  aent  to  Gut- 
tingen,  i7S 

Bancroft,  H.  II.,  History  of 
California,  cited,  187  (note) 

Baptist  Church,  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, S7;  and  Brown  Uni- 
versity, afl;  education  of 
women  in  South,  iHS 

Barnrrd,  Henrv,  850;  life,  137- 
138;  edits  Connecticut  Com- 
mon School  Journal,  138;  as 
college  president,  138;  first 
United  states  Commi.ssioner 
of  Education,  138;  edits  The 
American  Journal  of  Educa- 
tion, 1.38-39;  Stoweand,  161 

Barnard  College,  851 

Barrett,  Samuel,  teacher  of 
Horace  Mann,  185 

Beaurepaire,  Chevalier  Ques- 
nav  de,  169 

Beecher,  Catherine  Esther,  840 

Beecher,  Lyman,  840 

Bell- Lancaster  8  vstem,  145-46, 
148 

Benedictines,  colleges,  804-05 

Berkeley,  Bishop  George, 
benefactor  of  Yale,  55 

Berkeley,  Sir  William,  Gover- 
nor of  Virginia,  81,  83 

Blair,  Rev.  James,  and  found- 
ing of  College  of  William  and 
Mary,  83-84;  president  of 
William  and  Mnry,  85 

Blake,  Sop'  ia  Jex,  A  Visit  to 
Some  American  Schools  and 
Colleges,  cited,  68  (note) 

llandin,  I.  M.  E.,  History  of 
the     Higher     Education     of 


WoMtn  in  tkt  Soufk,  cited, 
SS8  (note) 

Blodget,  Samuel,  Eejnomiea, 
quoted,  97 

Blodget,  Major  William.  97 

Bohemia  Manor  (Md.),  Jesuit 
school,  191 

Borica,  Governor,  orders  Span- 
ish taught  in  missions,  187 

Boston.  Franklin  bequeaths 
.'und  to,  75-76;  English 
Classical  School  for  lk>ys, 
US;  schools  for  girls,  115, 
236;  Alcott's  Temple  School, 
S68.  863 

Boston  Grammar  School, 
Franklin  at,  65 

Boston  Latin  School,  founded 
(1635).  4;  Cheever  as  head 
of.  11 

Bouquillon,  Rev.  Thomas, 
Education:  To  Whom  Does  It 
Belong  y,iOO 

Brazil,  students  from,  884 

British  Mosely  Commission, 
869 

Broadway  Tabernacle,  New 
York  City,  Finney  builds,  848 

Brooks,  W.  K..  857 

Brown,  President  of  People's 
College,  884 

Brown  University,  Baptists 
found,  56;  tolerance,  56; 
Mann  ,  185;  Wayland's 
repor'      iflO).  814-15 

Bryn  R;     ,r  College,  850 

Bucha  .!,  James,  vetoes  Mor- 
rill Bill,  888,  884 

Buffalo,  Christliehe  Welt, 
Quoted,  808  (note) 

Bulgaria,  students  from,  884 

Butler.  N.  M.,  884;  Mono- 
graphs on  Education  in  the 
Cnited  S'-'.tes,  cited,  830 
(note) 


Cabell,  J.  C,  Jefferson  writes 
to,  94-05 


•)  ' 


I J 


INDEX 


rites 


CalifornU.  Catholic,  lg«; 
PranciacAU  in.  IM,  180- 
187 

California,  Lower,  miMions  in, 
lHA-80 

California,  llniver»ity  uf,  at 
Berkeley  (Cal.),  55;  beroiiK* 
coeducational  (I87U}.  17U; 
graduate  work.  It75 

Cambridge  University,  Ameri- 
can youth  attracted  to,  44; 
American  university  build- 
ingi  modeled  after,  it76 

Canfield,  J.  11,  <tS7 

Carnegie,  Andrew,  09,  76 

Carolina*,  school  laws,  42-4S; 
«ec  also  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina 

Carroll,  Charles,  of  Carrollton, 
191 

Carroll.  John,  Bishop  of  Balti- 
more, 182.  191.  193;  at 
Jesuit  college,  191 

Carter,  J.  G..  1«7 

Cassilly.  Rev.  Francis,  on 
coeducation,  205 

Catholic  education  in  America, 
181  €t  »eq.;  bibliography, 
289-90 

Catholic  Educational  Asso<-i- 
ation.  Proceedings  (1918), 
cited.  187  (note);  Proceed- 
ings (1917),  cited,  201 
(note) 

Catholic  University  of  America, 
Washington.  204 

Catholics,  in  Pennsylvania, 
S6-S7;  and  Public  School 
Society.  146-47,  197;  popu- 
lation, 182-83;  education 
of  women  in  South,  238; 
colleges  non-coeducational, 
251;  see  also  Catholic  edu- 
cation 

Cecil,  Father,  starts  school  in 
New  Orleans  (1722),  188 

"Central  College  of  Virginia," 
Jefferson's  plan.  8(i-90 

Chuleston  (S.  C  },  schools.  42 


Chautauqua  Institution,  281 

Cheever,  Eiekiel,  11-12 

Chicago,  city  takes  over  Cook 
County  Normal,  267 

Chicago  Institute.  267 

Chicago,  University  of,  Sohool 
of  Education,  267;  graduate 
work,  275;  founded  by 
Rockefeller,  275;  archi- 
tecture. 276;  Harper  and, 
280 

China,  colleges  established  by 
American  missionaries,  282; 
Boxer  indemnity  students, 
28S 

Christian  Brothers,  Colleges, 
205 

Christian  Church,  education  of 
women  in  South,  238 

Church  of  England,  position 
with  reference  to  education 
in  colonies,  29;  set  also 
Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel;  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, 37;  and  King's 
College,  56;  and  College  of 
William  and  Mary,  86 

Cincinnati,  C'atherine  Beecher 
organises  Female  Seminary 
in,  240 

Claiborne-Ingle  rebellion,  189 

Clark,  J.  G.,  275 

Clark  University,  graduate 
work,  275;  founded,  275 

Clarke,  John,  Essay  upon  th* 
Education  of  Youth  in  Oram- 
mar  Schools.  121-22 

Classics,  Latin  grammar 
schools  in  New  England,  9- 
12;  in  schools  of  New 
Netherlands.  29;  in  colonial 
colleges,  48-49;  Franklin 
and,  72-73;  attitude  toward 
study  of  Greek,  237;  increase 
in  number  of  students,  279 

Clinton,  DeWitt,  256;  and  the 
free  school,  141  et  seq.i 
quoted,  141;  first  student  at 
Columbia,  142;  and  Public 


«94 


INDEX 


lil 


li 


CHaloii,  DeWUt-^oii<tiiu*d 
^honl  Society.   U4-40.  •• 
Gov.  mor    of    N*!w     York, 
147- 4H-,    educational    iDtrr- 
#»'  <      '7-48 

<  I'utixi,  <  eor^.  I4S 

Cr  lii I.  m,  in  New  EnKland, 

1 7-IH  ?  4;  in  State  I'niver- 
1  'i-- ,  i '  >-80;  Catholic  view 
r.  iO&  in  collesei  (1010), 
to'  !S-*,  'n  icbool',.  Hi;  me 
altv  (ii! '.  Womra 

0.:,,\.",  Mr.  J  (■  .  '-? 

Cf  !•  ge»    1'^  ■!'         X  and, 

K;t,  i'ri"i:<  ■  ..Jcrent  to, 
b'  .>•:  ■  <rr  I  ,in  boyi  aent 
to  £n 'liii  ,  •4:  colonial,  4(1 
.■'  $cq.;  ur  >>  h  of  Amerioun 
<>/atem,  *^  'rriculum,  49- 
;»0,  J7  58;  c-  liege  life  and 
diHcipline,  AH -64;  Catholic, 
iOS-04;  in  Ntw  England, 
808;  entrance  ruquirementii, 
48,  1279-80;  tie  alio  names  of 
collegea.  State  I'niversitiei, 
Univenities 

Colorado,  school  teachers  from 
East.  1 

Columbia  University,  Kind's 
College  becomes  Columbia 
College.  142;  Regents  and. 
14S;  Barnard  College  forms 
part  of.  •iiX;  degrees,  274. 
graduate  work.  87 A;  $ee  cito 
Kiuk'j  '^'ollege 

Commencement  ceremonies, 
6«.  877 

Common  School  Journal,  188 

Congregational  Church  in  New 
England,  SO 

Connecticut,  school  law  as 
model.  1;  education  in,  8-9, 
19-80.  lOA;  Barnard's  work 
in.  137-38.  139 

Connec  icut  Common  School 
Journal,  138 

Cook  County  Normal  School. 
Parker  principal  of.  2flG, 
SOT 


Cooper.  Thomas,  at  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia.  89;  Jeffer- 
son's letter  to,  00 

(!ope,  E.  1>.,  paleoulologiral 
investigationt  in  Trani^ 
aelion*  of  American  Philo- 
sophical Society,  74 

(  trlett,  Elijah.  18 

Cornell,  Kara,  and  coeducation, 
170-80 

Cornell  (  liege.  Mount  Ver- 
non (la).  848 

Cornell  University,  coedu- 
cation, 170-80,  8A1;  SUte 
University  in  type.  180; 
obtains  national  funds.  884; 
graduate  work,  87A 

Cosmopolitan  Clubs.  884 

Cotton,  Edward.  endows 
Catholic  school  of  Newtown 
(Md.).  (16AS),  1H9-00 

Cousin,  Victor,  report  on  Prus- 
sian school  system,  17A 

Crandnll,  Prudence,  imoris- 
oned  for  maintaining  scnool 
for  negroes.  847 

Cuba,  atudenti  from,  88S 

Curtius,  Dr.  Alexander,  8A-86 

D 

iiame  schools,  18-10,  83S 
David,   Father,  organizes  Sis- 
ters of  Charity  of  NaaaretL. 

100 
Degrees,  AO,  87S-74 
Delaware,  early  schools.  33-30; 

independence    of     districts, 

107 
Delaware  River,  Swedes  and 

Dutch  on,  37 
Dewey,    John,    69.    80,    870; 

quoted,  8A3;  at  Lnivertity  of 

Chicago,  867 
DeWitt.    Simeon,    816,    884; 

and   agricultural  education. 

811-13 
Discipline,  in  colonial  schools, 

17i  at  Harvard.  A1-A8;  in 


IXPEX 


Diwiplinr^-TAnKn  u«4 

Anerican    cuIIck^s,    AH-Ol; 

Jef7i*riu)ii  and,  IH;  in  di»tri<t 

•rhcHiU,  lOM-UV 
Dixtrict   achuul  ■yttem,    101 

III 
Domestic    sdence,    Cutlierini* 

Uvecher  and,  440 
Doiniiiiiuu.",    in    Lowi-r    ('ali> 

foriiia,    186;    and    Catholic 

University  of  Ameri>B,  t<04 
Dorch?«tcr     (Mam.),     public 

■chool  eataLlishi'd,  4 
Dover  (N.  II.),  petition  from, 

fl-7 
Dra|>er,  renearchea  in    Tfiina 

actiont  of   American    Philo- 

Hophira!  Society,  74 
Dubour^,   Ilev.   William.  Sul- 

picittB,  lOi 
Dunlcers  in  Pennsylvania,  37 
Dunster,   Henry,  President  of 

Harvard.  d<-53 
Durant,  II.  P.,  founds  ^eiles- 

iey  College,  250 
Dutch  on  the   Delaware.   37, 

SO;    iee    alio    New    Nether- 
land 
Dutch    Reformed   Church,   in 

Penn.^ylvania,       S7;       and 

Queens  Colle({e,  3fl 
Dutch  West  India  Company, 

Dwigbt,  Edmund,  and  Lexing- 
tuu  normal  school,  188 


E 


40; 


East  Jersey,  school  law. 
»ee  also  New  Jersey 

Eaton,  Nathaniel,  first  Presi- 
dent of  Harvard,  51-62 

Eato.T  Free  School.  80 

Eddis.  Willium,  quoted.  44-45 

Elective  system,  JeffefMin  and, 
91.  174;  Ticknor  and.  91, 
173-74;  spread  of,  tfl;  in 
secondary  education,  114; 
Eliot  aad.  880 


Elementary  schools,  teachers' 
salaries,  Iil-I3;  rurrirulum. 
l;l  14,  «fl;  text-books.  II- 
15;  schoolhouseit.  I.} -10; 
recitation"!.  16-17;  dt«>'ipline, 
17;  net  alto  Diiitrict  school 
system.  Public  achmils 

Eliot,  C.  W  ,  69.  177.  2T0. 
1(80 

Eliot.  Rev.  John,  It 

Elical>efl>  Academy.  Old 
Washington  (Miss).  230 

Emerson.  R.  W.,  quoted,  74; 
on  Alcott.  2(14 

Emerv,  Father,  Superior  (icn- 
ernl  of  th*-  "  Initians,  IH.t 

Emma  Will..-  !  ■••  -minary,  Troy 
(N.  Y.).  210 

Engelhardt.  Rev.  /.ephyrin. 
I'atkolif  k.luealional  Work  in 
Early  California,  cited,  187 
(note) 

Kngincering,  in  State  Univer- 
sities, 167.  a  new  learned 
profession.  215;  land  survey- 
ing, 215-16;  lee  aUo  Techni- 
cal education 

England,  educational  ideala 
from,  276 

Episcopalian  Church,  let 
Church  of  England 

Erie  Canal,  Van  Rensselaer 
proposes.  216 

Everett,  Kdward,  at  Got- 
tingen,  173 

Experiment  stations.  226,  230 

Extension  work,  I  iiivf-rsit^  of 
Chicago.  280;  Chautauqua 
Institution,  281:  New  Yori^ 
City  lectures.  281 


"Faribault  Plan."  201-02 
FellenberK,  P.  K.  von,  218 
Fellenberp  mi    ement,  218-19 
"Female  summaries."  112-13 
Field.  Eugen'-.  257 
Field,  Justice  Si..  257 


S96 


INDEX 


I       \ 


Finney.  Rev.  C.  G..  second 
President  of  Oberlin.  247- 
248 

Fithian,  Philip,  account  of 
student  life  at  College  of 
New  Jersey,  60-61 

Fitspatrick,  £.  A..  The  Edu- 
cational View  and  Influence 
o/  DeWitt  Clinton,  cited,  148 
(note) 

Flaget,  Father,  Sulpician,  192, 
196 

Flexner,  Abraham,  69 

Florida,  Catholic,  182;  Fran- 
ciscan missions,  183 

Florida.  University  of,  not 
coeducational,  179 

Flower,  Enoch,  35 

Foot,  Lucinda,  debarred  from 
entering  Yale.  237 

France,  and  State  University, 
169;  opinion  of  American 
schools.  271 

France.  University  of.  170 

Franciscans,  in  Florida.  183; 
in  New  Mexico.  183-84;  in 
California.  185,  186-87;  in 
Lower  California.  186;  and 
Catholic  University  of 
America.  204 

Franklin.  Benjamin.  and 
practical  education.  65  et 
fe?.;  early  life  and  education. 
65-67;  establishes  the  Junto, 
67;  circulating  library,  67- 
68;  PropottUt  Relating  to 
the  Education  tf  YouUi  in 
Pentilvania,  69-72;  Proposal 
for  Promoting  Us^ul  Know- 
ledge Among  the  British 
Plantations  in  America,  73- 
74;  American  Philosophical 
Society,  74;  The  Cause  and 
Cure  of  Smoky  Chimneys,  74; 
Boston  and  Philadelphia 
funds,  75-76;  Poor  Richard's 
Almanack,  76;  as  an  econo- 
mist, 76-77;  and  electricity, 
77;  quoted.  77;  fond  of  telling 


Seymour's  retort  to  Blair. 
84  (note);  and  the  physio- 
cratic  school.  210-11;  mem- 
ber of  Philadelphia  Society 
for  Promoting  Agriculture, 
223;  and  vocation^  training. 
232;  on  education  of  women. 
235-36 

Franklin  (Mass.),  named  for 
Benjamin  Franklin,  68;  Hor- 
ace Mann  born  in,  68,  124 

Franklin  College,  German  Col- 
lege of  Lancaster  (Peno.) 
becomes.  75 

Franklin  Institute,  75 

Franklin  Union,  76 

Fraternities,  278;  see  also  Phi 
Beta  Kappa 

"Free  School  Association." 
Sheldon  helps  found.  258 

Free  School  Society.  144;  see 
also  Public  School  Society 

French  Revolution  and  the 
Sulpicians,  192 

Friends,  and  education,  35-36; 
effect  of  religious  tolerance 
on  education,  36-37 

Froebel,  F.  W.  A.,  217-18 

'*  Fruitlands,"  Alcott's  com- 
munistic colony.  263-64 


Gardiner  Lyceum.  213 

Garfield.  J.  A..  257 

Gary  (Ind.).  Wirt's  system  of 
education.  217,  270 

Geneva,  University  of,  pro- 
posal to  transplant  to 
United  States.  101 

Georgetown  University,  191 

Georgia,  education  in,  43; 
"university,"  143 

Georgia  Female  College  (Wes- 
leyan  Female  College  of 
Macon),  239 

Georgia,  University  of,  organ- 
ized (1785),  168;  not  coedu- 
cational, 170 


INDEX 


297 


German  College  of  Lancaster 
(Penn.).  75 

Germans,  in  Pennsylvania,  37- 
38,  151-52 

Germany,  Horace  Mann  and 
schools  of,  130,  131-38; 
influence  on  State  Univer- 
sities, 172  et  *eq.\  American 
students  in,  172-74;  opinion 
of  American  schools,  271 

Girard,  Stephen,  75 

Girard  College,  74-75 

Girls,  education  in  early  New 
England,  17-18;  in  New 
Netherland,  27;  academies, 
112-13,  114;  see  also  Coedu- 
cation, Women 

Gloucester  (Mass.).  eight-hour 
law  for  schoolmaster,  234- 
235 

Goodrich,  C.  A.,  A  History  of 
the  United  States  of  America, 
cited,  120  (note) 

Graduate  work,  273-75 

Grammar  schools,  see  Latin 
grammar  schools 

Grange  movement,  228 

Grant,  U.  S.,  and  na  ional 
university,  102 

Great  War  proves  Americani- 
cation  of  United  States 
people.  284 

Greek,  see  Classics 

Greek-letter  fraternities,  see 
Fraternities,  Phi  Beta 
Kappa 

Greene,  General,  and  national 
university,  97 

Guyot,  Arnold,  256 


Hall.  B.  R..  fi'Mted,  104 
Hamilton,      Alexander,      and 

"University  of  the  State  of 

New  York."  170 
Hamilton,   Sir    William,   plea 

for  British  university  reform, 

175 


Hampton  Institute,  Armstrong 
founder  of,  257;  Booker  T. 
Washington  at.  257 

Harper,  W.  R.,  President  of 
University  of  Chicago,  280- 
281 

Harris,  W.  T.,  139,  175;  A. 
Branson  Alcott,  His  Life  and 
Pkilosophy,  cited,  284 
(note) 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  signs  sec- 
ond Morrill  Act.  225 

Harrison,  W.  H.,  signs  act 
establishing  Vincennes  Uni- 
versity, 161 

Hartford  (Conn.),  schools 
established,  8 

Hartford  Female  Seminary, 
240 

Harvard,  John,  46.  47 

Harvard  University,  cosmo- 
politan, 2;  grammar  schools 
near,  10;  Harvard's  bequest 
to,  48-47;  early  entrance 
requirements.  49;  curricu- 
lum, 49-50;  degrees,  50, 
274;  "dispuUtions,"  50-51 
early  presidents,  51-53 
theological  battleground 
51-53:  and  Yalr  53;  edu 
cationai  monopoly,  54;  Will 
iam  and  Mary  second  to,  84 
and  elective  system,  91 
280;  State  appropriations  to 
180;  Radcliffe  College  affili 
ated  with,  251;  graduate 
work,  275;  medical  school 
buildings,  276 

Hatch  Act  (1887).  225 

Hawaii,  land-grant  college, 
226;  students  from,  283 

Hayden,  P.  V.,  paleontological 
investigations  in  Trans- 
actions of  American  Philo- 
sophical Society,  74 
Hayes,  R.  B.,  and  national 
university,  102 

Henrico  (Va.),  plan  for  college 
for  Indians  at,  81 


lii 


298 


INDEX 


11(1 


(    : 


■I' 


.1    •• 


ii 


Henry,  Joseph,  experiments  in 
Transactions  of  American 
Philosophical  Society,  74 

Herbart,  J.  F..  218 

High  schools,  establishment  of, 
111,  115-17;  coSrdination 
with  university,  178;  see  also 
Secondary  education 

Hineham  (Mass.)>  teachers' 
salaries,  13 

Hinsdale,  B.  A.,  Notes  on  the 
History  of  Foreign  Influences 
upon  Education  in  the  United 
States,  cited,  174  (note) 

Hitchcock,  Edward,  243 

Hofwyl,  "farm-school"  at,  218 

Holmes,  Ezekiel,  213 

Honor  system,  02 

Hopkins,  Mark,  257 

Hopkins  School,  New  Haven, 
234 

Horn-books.  14 

Hoyt,  J.  W.,  President  of 
Wyoming,  102;  urges  na- 
tional university,  177  (note) 

Hughes,  Bishop  of  New  York, 
197 

Huxley,  T.  H.,  quoted,  165 


Illinois,  teachers  from  East,  2; 
land  grants  for  common 
schools,  159;  development  of 
colleges,  163-64 

Illinois  College,  Jacksonville, 
Turner  a  professor  in,  224 

Illinois  Industrial  University, 
see  Illinois,  University  of 

Illinois  State  Normal  Univer- 
sity, 164 

Illinois,  University  of,  origin, 
164;  becomes  coeducational 
(1870).  179;  graduate  work, 
275 

loimigration,  effect  on  edu- 
cation in  New  York,  IVo; 
effect  in  Pennsylvania,  3C; 
Catholic.  182;  Catholic  edu- 


cation of  children  of  immi- 
grants, 205-06 

India,  students  from,  283 

Indiana,  land  grants  for  com- 
mon schools,  159;  establish- 
ment of  colleges,  161-68 

Indiana,  Uni  -?rsity  of,  Vin- 
cennes  University  becomes, 
102;  coeducational,  179; 
Lathrop.  President  of,  213 

Indians,  raids  an  obstacle  to 
learning,  6-7;  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gos- 
pel and,  30,  32;  London 
Company  makes  grant  for 
college  for,  81-82;  Clinton 
favors  education  of,  148; 
and  Florida  missions,  183; 
and  Franciscans  in  New 
Mexico,  183-84;  in  Califor- 
nia, 185,  186-87 

Industrial  education,  Lincoln's 
idea  of,  222;  see  also  Techni- 
cal education 

Ingalls,  J.  J.,  257 

Institute  of  Brothers  of  the 
Christian  Schools,  205 

Iowa.  University  of.  coedu- 
cational. 179,  249 

Ireland,  Archbishop  John, 
devises  "  Faribault  Plan," 
201;  appeals  to  Rome,  202 


James,  E.  J.,  President  of 
University  cf  Illinois,  102; 

James,  William,  89 

James  River  Company,  Wash- 
ington gives  shares  to  Lib- 
erty Hall  Academy,  98 

Japan,  students  from,  283 

Jay,  John,  and  Jefferson's  plan 
of  public  education.  170 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  Priestley 
and,  74;  and  State  edu- 
cation, 78  et  seq.,  94-95;  at 
College  of  William  and 
Mary.  84;  and  University  of 


%f 


INDEX 


809 


Jefferson,  Thomas — Continued 
Virginia.  87-93.  170;  Eisay 
toward  facilitating  instruction 
in  Anglo-Saxon  and  Modern 
Dialects  of  the  English  Lan- 
guage, cited,  88  (note);  epi- 
taph, 03;  and  national  uni- 
versity, 100-01,  102;  and 
Washington,  101;  and  Ques- 
nay  de  Beaurepaire,  109; 
French  influence,  170;  and 
elective  system,  174,  280; 
and  Ursuline  school.  188-89; 
technical  education,  209-10, 
232;  member  of  Philadelphia 
Society  for  Promoting  Agri- 
culture, 223;  introduces  hill 
providing  education  for  girls 
and  boys,  236;  and  educa- 
tion of  women,  240 

Jesuits,  found  college  at  Que- 
bec, 184;  industrial  colonies 
in  Paraguay,  185;  in  Lower 
California,  18.5-86;  expelled, 
186;  deported  from  Mary- 
land, 189;  school  in  New- 
town (Md.),  190;  school  in 
New  York  City,  100; 
employed  as  tutors  in 
Maryland,  190;  preparatory 
school  at  Bohemia  Manor, 
191;  Georgetown  College, 
191;  colleges,  204 

Jewett,  Rev.  M.  P.,  239.  249 

Jogues,  Father,  Jesuit,  visits 
Manhattan  (1644),  182 

John  of  Nassau,  quoted,  22 

Johns  Hopkins  University, 
established.  274;  graduate 
work,  274,  275 

Johnson,  Clifton,  Old-  Time 
Schools  and  School-  ftooks, 
cited,  16  (note) 

Johnson,  Samuel,  first  Presi- 
dent of  King's  College,  32; 
quoted,  67-58 

Judson  Female  Institute,  Mar- 
ion (Ala.),  239 

Junto,  67 


K 

Kansas,  teachers  from  East,  2 

Kansas,  University  of,  coedu- 
cation, 179,  249 

Kemp,  W.  W.,  The  Support  of 
Schools  in  Colonial  Sew 
York  by  the  Socicti/  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gonprl  in 
Foreign  Parts,  cited,  33 
(note) 

Kentucky,  Virginia  and,  95; 
Catholics  in,  195-97;  teach- 
ing communities  of  women, 
196-97 

Kilpatrick,  Dutch  Schools  of 
Sew  Netherland,  cited,  27 
(note) 

King  William's  School,  Annap- 
olis (Md.),  41 

King's  College,  Johnson  as 
President  of,  32,  57-58; 
Anglican,  66;  renamed  Co- 
lumbia, 142;  see  also  Colum- 
bia University 

Knight,  Public  School  Edu- 
cation in  North  Carolina, 
cited,  l.'>4  (note) 


Lalor,  Alice,  opens  school  for 

girls  at  Georgetown,  194 
Lancaster     (Penn.).     German 

College,  75 
Lancaster  plan  of  teaching,  see 

Bell-Lancaster  system 
Land  grants,  in   New  Jersey, 

40;  federal,   157  et  svq.;  we 

also  Morrill  Act 
Land  Ordinance  of  1785,  159 
Lane    Theological     Seminary, 

Cincinnati.      Mahan      and, 

247 
Lansing   (Mich.),   agricultural 

college,  226 
La  Salle,  St.  Jean  Bapiiste  de, 

founder  of  Christian  Broth- 
ers, 205 


!:i 


■•'•  f 


soo 


INDEX 


Lathrop,  J.  H.,  21S 

Latin  grammar  schools,  111; 
in  New  England,  9-10;  in 
New  Ne^herland,  84;  in 
Maryland.  41-42 

Laval,  Bishop,  184 

Laval  University,  185 

Lawrence  College,  Appleton 
(Wis.).  S48 

Legislation,  Alabama,  838; 
Connecticut,  1,  19-20; 
Maine,  213-14;  Maryland, 
41;  Massachusetts,  1,  4-6, 
19-21.  US.  208-09,  234; 
Michigan,  171.  172.  175. 
178;  New  York.  28-29.  143- 
144. 148-49;  North  Carolina, 
42:  Pennsylvania,  34-35, 
152-53;  South  Carolina,  41, 
42;  training  in  cr<tfts.  209; 
Virtrinia.  82-83;  tee  also 
Morrill  Act 

Leidy.  Joseph,  paleontologicul 
investigations  in  Trans- 
actions  of  American  Philo- 
sophical Society.  74 

Leipziger.  Dr.  H.  M.,  and  New 
York  lecture  system,  281 

Leiand  Stanford,  Junior,  Uni- 
versity, founded.  275;  archi- 
tecture, 276 

Leo  XIII.  Pope,  establishes 
Catholic  University  of 
America.  204 

Leverett,  John.  President  of 
Harvard,  53 

Lexington  (Mass.),  first  nor- 
mal school  in  America,  128 

Liberty  Hall  Academy  be- 
comes Washington  and  Lee 
University,  98 

Libraries.  Franklin  and,  67-69 

Lincoln.  Abraham,  and  Morrill 
Acts.  222.  224-25;  on  indus- 
trial education,  222,  232 

Lombard  University,  Gales- 
burg,  (III.),  248 

London  Company  of  Virginia. 
79-80.  81 


Longfellow.  H.  W.,  student  in 

Germany,  174 
Lorettines,  tee   Sisters   of  Lo- 

retto 
Louisiana,  Catholic,  182 
Louisiana  Purchase,  188 
Lowell,  J.  R.,  on  Alcott,  264 
Lutheran    Church    in     Penn- 
sylvania, 87 
Luyck,  Rev.  iGgidius,  26 
Lyon,    C.    H.,    Causes   of  the 
Backward    State    of    Sound 
Learning  of  the  United  States, 
cited,  122  (note) 
Lyon,  Mary,  quoted,  233;  life 
and  education,  241-43;  and 
Mount  Holyoke,  243-45 

M 

McClure.  David,  on  education 
of  girls,  235 

Macon,  Wesleyan  Female  Col- 
lege of,  239 

Madison,  James,  and  national 
university,  102 

Magazines  as  text-books,  121- 
122 

Mahan,  Rev.  Asa.  first  Presi- 
dent of  Oberlin.  247 

Maine,  teachers'  salaries,  13; 
and  agricultural  education, 
213-14 

Maine,  University  of,  214 

Mann,  Horace.  256;  life  and 
education,  68-69,  124-26; 
and  the  American  school, 
124  et  seq.;  secretary  of 
Massachusetts  Board  of 
Education,  126-34;  Com- 
mon School  Journal,  128; 
and  teachers'  training, 
128-29;  and  teaching  of 
music,  129-30;  criticism  of. 
130-fil,  133-34;  German  in- 
fluence, 131-33,  175;  elected 
to  Congress,  135;  President 
of  An  ioch  College,  135, 
248;     death     (1859).     135; 


INDEX 


801 


Mann.  Horace— Con<tnu«<2 
interests,    135-36;    estimate 
of,      136-37;     inspired     by 
Stowe,  161 

Manual  training,  217-19 

Marion  (Ala.),  Judson  Female 
Institute.  239 

Marista  and  Catholic  Univer- 
sity of  America,  204 

Marshall,  John,  at  College  of 
William  and  Mary,  84-85 

Martin.  G.  H.,  Evolutioi,  of  the 
Masiochunetta  Public  School 
System,  cited,  18  (note) 

Maryland,  public  schools,  41- 
42;  number  of  Catholics  in 
(1789).  182;  origin  of  Catho- 
lic education  in,  189;  agri- 
cultural college,  226 

Mason,  Lowell,  and  music 
teaching,  130 

Masons,  education  of  women 
in  South,  238 

Massachusetts,  school  law 
(1647),  1,  5-6;  school  law 
(1642),  4-5.  208-09,  234; 
grammar  schools,  10-12; 
school  law  (1789),  19-20; 
district  schools,  105-06;  see 
also  District  school  system; 
law  of  1827,  106;  academies, 
113;  high  school  law,  (1826). 
115;  Horace  Mann  in,  139; 
contraiited  with  New  York 
in  methods  of  education, 
141;  see  also  Boston,  Har- 
vard University 

Massachusetts  Bay,  first  col- 
ony to  establish  publir 
Bchools,  3-4 

Massachusetts  Institute  uf 
Technolcgv.  226,  276 

Mather,  Cotton,  11,  12,  51,  53, 
«7 

Mather,  Increase,  53 

Mayflower,  the  (ship),  79 

Mechanics  Mutual  Protection 
Society,  223 

Medicine,  first  school  in  Amer- 


ica at  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, 73;  in  State  Uni- 
versities, 167;  architecture 
of  Harvard  school  of,  276 

Mennonites  in  Pennsylvania. 
37 

Methodist  Church,  in  Penn- 
sylvania. 37;  education  of 
women  in  South,  238;  Eliza- 
beth Academy,  230 

Mexico,  secularizes  missions, 
187;  appropriates  Pious 
Fund.  188 

Miami  University.  160 

Michigan,  "university"  ex- 
periment. 143;  agricultural 
college,  226 

Michigan,  University  of, 
"mother  of  the  State  Uni- 
versities," 169;  modeled 
after  University  of  France, 
171;  German  influence.  175- 
176;  rectoral  plan,  176:  ad- 
mits women  ( 1870),  179;  State 
support,  180;  graduate  work, 
275. 

Military  education,  99-100. 
227 

Minnesota,  University  of,  co- 
educational, 179,  249 

Mississippi  Valley,  colleges 
established.  156 

Missouri,  teaching  communi- 
ties of  women.  197 

Missouri.  University  of,  be- 
comes coeducational,  179; 
Lathrop  as  President  of, 
213 

Mitchell.  Maria.  238 

Monroe.  James,  at  College  of 
William  and  Mary,  84;  and 
national  university,  102 

Monroe,  Paul.  Cyclopedia  o/ 
Education,  cited,  159  (note) 

Monteith,  Rev.  John,  at  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan,  172 

Moravians  in  Pennsylvania, 
37,  38;  schools  for  girls. 
236 


I' 


SOS 


INDEX 


Morgan,  E.  R.,  founder  of 
Weill  College.  fUO 

Morrill.  J.  S.,  225 

Morrill  Act,  164,  220.  221  et 
leq. 

Morae,  Jedediah.  119 

Motley,  J.  L.,  student  in  Ger- 
many, 174 

Mount  Uolyoke  College, 
"  Mount  Holyoke  Female 
Seminary."  243-45;  char- 
tered as  college  (1888),  24JJ 

Mount  St.  Mary's,  Emmits- 
burg  (Md.).  101-92 

Music,  Horace  Mann  intro- 
duces into  public  schools, 
129-SO 

N 

Napoleon  and  University  of 
France,  170 

National  Association  of  State 
Universities  endorses  na- 
tional university.  102 

National  Educational  Associ- 
ation endorses  national  uni- 
versity. 102 

National  University,  Wash- 
ington and.  95  et  »iq.\  Hoyt 
urges.  177  (note) 

Nazareth  (Fenn.),  Moravian 
school  for  girls,  236 

Neale,  Father,  President  of 
Georgetown  College,  194 

Negroes  admitted  to  Oberlin, 
247 

Nemours,  Dupont  de,  Jefferson 
and,  170 

Nerinckx,  Father,  in  Ken- 
tucky. 195,  196 

New  Amstel  (New  Castle, 
Del.)-  Dutch  teacher  ut. 
25 

New  Amsterdam,  public 
school,  24;  Latin  school 
started  (1652),  25 

"  New  education,  the,"  253  et 
itq. 


New  England,  schools  of  early, 
1  et  »eq.;  Church  of  England 
schools  in,  SO;  colleges 
established,  208;  state  of 
colleges  (1850),  214;  frater- 
nities in  colleges  of,  278 

New    England    Primer,    14-15 

New  England'i  firtt  Fruit*, 
quoted,  46 

New  Hampshire  follows  school 
system  of  Massachusetts,  8 

New  Harmony  (Ind.),  com- 
munistic colony,  218 

New  Haven,  school  laws,  8; 
Yale  College  moved  to,  54 

New  Jersey,  ColIeRC  of  (Prince- 
ton), 06,  60-61;  tee  alto 
Princeton  University 

New  Jersey,  schools,  89-40 

New  Mexico,  Catholic,  182; 
Franciscan  missions,  183 

New  Netherland,  schools  in,  22 
et  teq. 

New  Orleans,  elementary  edu- 
cation begun  (1722),  188; 
girls*  schools,  230 

New  Sweden,  schools,  88-39 

New  York,  English  edu- 
cational work  in,  28  et  teq.; 
Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  in,  30-31; 
tries  to  make  schools  demo- 
cratic, 141;  public  school 
system  established,  144;  bill 
for  education  of  women, 
240;  coeducational  univer- 
sities, 251;  fraternities  in 
colleges,  278;  tee  alto  New 
Netherland 

New  York  City,  law  to  provide 
public  support  of  teacher 
in  (1702),  28-39;  Trinity 
Church  Charity  school,  81; 
high  schools,  115;  Public 
School  Society,  144-47,  197; 
debt  to  DeWitt  Clinton. 
145;  Jesuit  school  (1084), 
190;  Catholic  schools,  197: 
"no  Popery"  agitation  in. 


B'- 


INDEX 


SOS 


New  York  City — Continued 

197-98;  free  lecture  system, 

281 
New  York.  College  of  the  City 

of,  U7 
New  York  University,  251 
New  York,   University  of  the 

State  of,  144-43.  170 
Newport    (R.    I)    establishes 

town  schools,  7 
Newspapers      as      text-books, 

lil-ii 
Newtown        (Md.),    Catholic 

school,  189-90 
Normal  schools.   128-29,    17(1, 

258,  259-00,  260.  267 
North     Carolina,     appeal     to 

Legislature   a<;ainst   general 

education,     153-54;    public 

schools     established,      154; 

Constitution     provides     for 

university,     168;     see     alio 

Carolinas 

O 

Oberlin.  J.  F.,  245 

Oberlin  College,  160;  Oberlin 
Collegiate  Institute  founded, 
245-46;  first  cocducationel 
college.  246-47 

"Oberlin  Covenant,"  245 

Odd  Fellows,  education  of 
women  in  South,  238 

Ohio,  teachers  from  East,  2; 
land  grants  for  common 
schools,  159;  colleges  of, 
100 

Ohio  Company,  159-60 

Ohio  State  University,  160 

Ohio,  University  of,  100 

O&ate.  Juan  de.  expedition  in- 
to New  Mexico  (1598),  183 

Ordinance  of  1787,  quoted, 
155 

Oswego  (N.  Y.),  normal  school, 
258,  259-60 

Owen,  R.  D.,  218 

Oxford    University,    American 


youth  attracted  to,  44; 
Rhodes  scholarships,  45 ; 
American  college  buildings 
modeled  after,  276 


Palmer,  Edwin,  plans  univer- 
sity in  Virginia,  82 
Parker,  Colonel  F.  \V..  264-67, 

270 
Parker,   Theo«lore,   and    Hor- 
ace Mann,  136 
Paulist  Fathers  and  Catholic 

University  of  America,  204 
Penn,    William,    quote«l,    34; 

settlement  planned  by,  34 
Pennsylvania,    teachers    from 
East,  2;  schools,  34-38,  151- 
153; school  laws,  34-35;  152- 
153;   Constitution    provides 
for  university,   168;  Catho- 
lics in,  182,  194;  agricultural 
college,  226 
'  Pennsylvania  Dutch,'*  87 
Pennsylvania,    University    of, 
independent    of    denomina- 
tional influence,  67;  Frank- 
lin's Academy  develops  in- 
to, 73,  112;  graduate  work, 
275;  architecture,  276 
Peoples  College.  223-24 
People's  party  (1892),  228 
Perry,      Commodore,      opens 

ports  of  Japan.  283 
Persia,  students  from.  284 
Pestalozzi,  J.  II.,  217 
Phi  Beta  Kappa,  62,  85,  278 
Philadelphia.     Flower     opens 
school  in,  35;  William  Penn 
Charter  School,  35;  Franklin 
in,  06;  Franklin  and  schools 
of,      74-75;      Franklin    be- 
queaths fund  to,  75-76;  high 
schools,   115;  first  Catholic 
parochial  school,    195;   "no 
Popery"  agitation,   197-98; 
Franklin's  project  for  "  Pub- 
lick  Academy,"  211 


1i 


it. 


S04 


INDEX 


I 


Si       . 


I 

I  '1 


PhiUdelphiA  Society  for  Pro- 
motinR  Agriculture,  8S3 

Philippine  Islands,  Catholic, 
182;  land-grant  college,  826; 
education  in,  282-83;  stu- 
dents from,  283 

Phillips.  Wendell,  136 

Phillips  Academy  at  Andover 
(Mass.),  112 

Phillips  Academy  at  £xeter 
(N.H.).  112 

Pierce,  Cyrus,  128-20 

Pietersen,  Evert,  20 

Pious  Fund,  188 

Plymouth  (Mass.).  provides 
instruction  (1670),  3;  merged 
with  Massachusetts,  S 

Porto  Rico,  Catholic,  182; 
land-grant  college,  226; 
students  from,  283 

Portsmouth  (N.  H.),  school  for 
girls,  (1773).  2Sfi 

Potomac  River  Navigation 
Company,  Washington  gives 
shares  to  found  national 
university,  03 

"  Poughkeepsie  Plan,"  201 

Presbyterian  Church.  College 
of  New  Jersey,  A6;  education 
of  women  in  South,  238 

Priestley,  Joseph,  Experiments 
and  Observations  on  different 
kinds  of  air,  74 

Princeton  University,  honor 
system  at,  02;  buildings, 
276;  personal  instruction, 
276-77;  and  Greek-letter 
fraternities,  270;  see  also 
New  Jersey,  College  of 

Providence  (R.  I.),  establishes 
town  schools,  7 

Public  School  Society.  144-47, 
07 

Public  schools,  origin  oi  Amer- 
ican, 1  et  seq.;  arguments 
against  in  New  York,  150- 
151;  Catholic  teachers  in, 
200-01;  curriculum.  253-54; 
complaints  against,  267-70; 


see  alto,  DIttrict  school  sys- 
tem.     Elementary     schools. 
High  schools.  Rural  schools, 
Secondary  schools 
Pupil  teaching,  145-46 
Purdue,  John,  162 
Purdue  University,  162 

Q 

Quakers,  see  Friends 

Quebec,  Jesuits  found  college 

at   (1635).   184;  Laval  Tni- 

versity,  185 
Quebec      Seminary      founded 

(1663),  184 
Queens  College  (Rutgers).  56; 

becomes  agricultural  college, 

213 
Quincy    (Mass.),    Parker    in, 

165-66 

R 

Radcliffe  College,  251 

Randolph,  Peyton,  at  College 
of  William  and  Mary,  84 

R£collets  in  northern  colonies. 
185 

"Rensselaer  plan"  of  student 
demonstration,  216-17 

Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Insti- 
tute, opened  (1825),  100, 
216;  Mary  Lyon  at,  242- 
243 

Rhode  Island,  lack  of  public 
provision  for  education  in. 
7;  oebt  to  Barnard.  138,  ISO 

Rhodes,  Anne,  196 

Rhodes,  Cecil,  45,  96-97 

Richard,  Father  Gabriel,  and 
University  of  Michigan,  m, 
192 

Richmond  (Va.).  capital 
removed  to,  85 

Robert  Col''"je,  Constanti- 
nople, 282 

Rockefeller,  D.,     founds 

University  c     'hicago,  275 


INDEX 


S05 


Rockfish  Gap,  committee 
meets  to  draw  up  plan  for 
"Central  College,    86 

Roe.  E.  P..  «57 

Roelantaen,  Adam,  84 

Rogers,  John,  lA 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  quoted, 
168 

Round  Hill  School,  173 

Roxbury,  Eliot  establishes 
school  at.  12 

Rural  schools,  conditions  in 
New  York,  150 


S.  P.  G.,  Me  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  Foreign  Parts 

Si.  Augustine,  classical  school 
(1606),  183 

St.  John's  College,  Barnard  as 
President  of,  138 

St.  Mary's  Seminary,  Balti- 
more, Dubourg  founds,  Hii. 
193 

St.  Omer,  College  of.  Catholic 
sons  sent  to,  100-91 

Salaries  of  teachers  18-13.  £0- 

Salem  (N.  C),  Moravian 
Female  Academy,  236 

Sanborn,  F.  B.,  and  Harris, 
W.  T.,  A.  Bronton  Alcott, 
His  Life  and  Philosophy, 
citud,  264  (note) 

Sanderson  Academy,  Ashfield, 
Mary  Lyon  at,  241 

San  Diego,  mission  established 
(176()).  186 

San  Jos£,  Borica  opens  school 
in.  187 

San  Miguel,  mission  sold 
(1846),  187 

Sarmiento,  "the  Horace  Mann 
of  South  America,"  137 

Saybrook  (Conn.).  Yale  Col- 
lege at,  54 

3o 


Schneider,  Rev.  Theodore, 
194-05 

School  laws,  tee  Legislation 

Schoolhouses,  in  early  New 
England,  15-10;  district 
schools,  107-08;  community 
center.  110 

Schwenkf  elders  in  Penn- 
sylvania. 37 

Scotch-Irish  establish  Liberty 
Hall  Academy.  08 

Secondary  education.  111-17; 
tee  alto  Academies,  High 
schools,  Latin  grammar 
schools 

Serra,  Father  Junipero,  estab- 
lishes mission  at  San  Diego 
(1769),  18« 

Seton,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Ann, 
193 

Seventh  Day  Itnptists  in  Penn- 
sylvania, 37 

Seward,  Governor  of  New 
York,  Annual  Message 
(1842)  quoted,  147 

Seymour.  Attorney-General, 
and  founding  of  College  of 
William  and  Mary.  8.-} 

Sharp.  Chaplain  John,  quoted, 
S3 

Sheldon,  E.  A.,  258-59,  270 

Shipherd,  J.  J..  245 

Sisters  of  Charity,  Mrs.  Seton 
organizes.  193 

Sisters  of  Charity  of  Nazareth, 
106 

Sisters  of  Charity  of  St.  Vin- 
cent de  Paul.  193-94 

"Sisters  of  Loretto."  196 

Sisters  of  St.  Dominic.  196- 
197 

Sisters  of  the  Visitation.  194 

Slaves,  work  of  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
among.  32 

Slosson.  E.  E..  Six  Major  Pro- 
phett,  cited.  267  (note) 

Small,  VV.  H.,  Early  New  Eng- 
land School*,  cited,  5  (note) 


1 

■'( 

:}•: 

1 

806 


INDEX 


Smith,  Aophia,  SdO 
Smith  CuAege.  «3U 
Smith-Lever  Art  (1014),  MS 
Society  for  Promoting  Manual 

Labor  in   Literary    Iniititu- 

tiona,  ilH 
"Society  for  the  Promotion  of 

Christian  Knowlecige  Amonit 

the  German*  in   America, 

87 
L<ociety  for  the  Propagation  of 

the  Goapel  in  Foreign  Farti, 

g»-3<,  4:i 
"Society    of    the    Friends    of 

Marv  SurrowioK  at  the  Foot 

of  the  Cross  of  Our   Lord 

Jesus  Christ."  IBO 
Society  of  dt.  Sulpice,  »ee  Sul- 

piciana 
South,      distinction      between 

achooling  and  education,  43: 

sends  boyj  to  England.  44: 

education  of  women  in,  t<38- 

«3» 
South  America,  students  frocs 

884 
South  Carolina,  tax-suppo-'ted 

county   schools,    41;  school 

laws,  4i 
South  Hadley  (Mass.),  Mount 

Holyoke  at,  243 
i^paru.     Works    of    Benjamin 

Franklin,  cited,  84  (note) 
Spaulding,  Archbishop,  quoted, 

181 
Springfield     (Mass.),     experi- 
ment at,  868 
Stanford,  Leland,  275 
Stanford        University,        *ee 

Leland     Stanford,     Junior, 

University 
State  UniverMties,  religion  in, 

157;  and  land  grauts,    158; 

and  denominational  colleges, 

106;  general  characteristics, 

166-67;  rise  of,  1  :i8  rt  #ra.; 

and   Catholic  hij^h  schools, 

808-03;    coeducation,    848- 

840;  «««  alto  Colleges,  names 


of  colleges  and  universities. 
Universities 

Steiner,  11.  <'.,  Jlittory  of  Edu- 
cation in  Maryland,  cited,  48 
(note),  45  (note) 

Stevens,  Thaddeus.  158 

Stewart.  Uev.  K.  J.,  A  Grog' 
tapkyfor  Hi-ginneri,  180-81 

Stewart,  P.  V  ,  845 

Stowe,  C.  K.,  160-61 

Student  Army  Training  Corps, 
100 

Sulpicians,  in  North,  185: 
Mount  St.  Mary's  CollcKt*- 
101-08;  fugitives  fruui 
France,  108-9.S;  work  in 
America,  108-04;  and 
Catholic  University  of 
America,  804 

Surveying:,  »ev  Kngineering 

Sweden,  education  in,  38 

Swedes,  at  New  Anistel,  85;  on 
the  Delaware,  37,  38 

Switzerland,  contribution  to 
educational  science,  856 

Symms  School,  80 

Syracuse  (N.  Y.),  Sheldon  in. 
859 

.Syracuse  University,  851 

Syria,  students  from,  884 

Syrian  Protestant  College, 
Beirut,  888 


Tappan,  H.  P..  President  of 
I'niversitv  of  Michigan,  175, 
176-77 

Taunton,  (Mass.),  teachers' 
salaries,  13 

Taylor,  J.  \V.,  850 

Teachers,  educationnl  require- 
ments in  New  England,  t^ 
salaries,  18-13,  80-27,  804 
in  New  Netherland,  87-88 
in  Maryland,  41 -48;  changed 
relations  with  pupil,  854 

Technical    education,    807    it 


*  ' 


rifi 


^^^ 


INDEX 


807 


TejaiJA,  nUhop,  r»>open«  netni- 
naryatSt.Augtnline  (179  ), 
1H.1 
TenuMiee,  IInlv*r«ity  of.  188 
Texas,    land    RranU   in,    103; 

Catholif.  I8« 
Texas.  University  of.  103 
Text-booki.  of  New  Kn(?Iand, 
l-«,  !4-14;of  fwiety  forthe 
PropaKatinn  of  the  (JosncI, 
81;  American.  117-ill;  Vaeb- 
ster'B,    117-19;    new«papt;rs 
and  maffnuines  as,  li<l-i3 
Thonia-,  M.Carcy.nuoted.  MO 
Thonin.  superintendent  of  the 
Jardia    acn    Plantes,    seuds 
■eedi  to  Jefferson,  it  10 
Thorpe.  George.  81 
Thwing.    (".     F.,    lIiMivy    of 
Higher  Educiition   in  Amer- 
tea.  cited,  174  (note) 
Ticknor,  George.  »!,   17<-73, 

S80 
Tracy.     Count     Deslutt     de. 
introduces  term  "  Ideology," 
88 
Trent.  W.  P..  Enr/linh  ruHurc 
in  Virginia,  cited,  89  (note) 
Tribune,    New    York,    quoted, 
149;       ails   agitation       for 
People's  Collejre,  US 
Troy  (N.  Y.),  Van  Rensselaer 
founda  technical  school  at. 
816;  nee  also  Rensselaer  Poly- 
technic    Institute;     Emma 
Willard  Seminary,  iiO 
Turkey,  American  schools  in. 

«8«;  sfrdcnts  from.  «84 
Turner.  J.  B..  Ifi4.  2*4 
Tuskegee  Institute.  819,  «57 
Tyler.  John,  at  College  of  Wil- 
liam and  Mary,  84 
Tyler.  W.  S.,  trustee  of  Mount 
Uolyoke,  quoted,  843 

U 

Union     College,     fraternities 
founded  at.  «78 


I'niled  Ftatet.  govcroment 
educational  agencies.  109; 
an  educational  experiment 
station.  «7l-7« 

United  SUtes  Bureau  of  Edu- 
cation. Circular  of  Infor- 
mation. No.  1.  cited.  91 
(note) 

Universities  of  today.  |J79  rt 
teq.;  tre  also  Colleges*,  names 
of  cuUeges,  State  Univer- 
sities 

Ursuline  nuns,  in  North.  184. 
185;  convent  school  in  New 
Orleans.  188.  «3« 


Van  Rensselaer.  Stephen,  tl0 

Vassar.  Matthew,  «49 

Vassar  College,  opened  (1885). 
438.  «47;  astronomy  at,  «3H; 
Jewett  President  of.  iH9; 
chartered  as  "  Vassar  Female 
College"  (1801),  «30 

Vermont,  school  esfablishinent 
in,  8;  Constitution  provides 
for  university,  168 

Vincennes  University.  lfll-««; 
tre  also  Indiana.  University 
of 

Virginia,  disputes  school  pn- 
macy  with  New  England.  I; 
publir  school  system  estab- 
iishcH,  79:  enrly  history  of 
education  in.  7J  et  req.;  gift 
of  fhtrcs  to  Washington  as 
reward     for     st.-vices,     98; 
academies.  119 
Virginia,  Uuivef  ity  of.  Jeffer- 
son's plan  fcr.  8fl-H8,   170; 
curriculum,  87-88;  has  per- 
manent president,  92;  honor 
rystem   at,   92;    French  in- 
fluence, 172;  elective  system. 
174,    280;    follows    German 
model.    176;    not    coeduca- 
tional.   170;  agriculture  at, 
210.  211 


||i 


< 

^^i 

ii. 

■  1 

908 


INDEX 


VinitAtion  Order  of  St.  Frsoci* 

de  Sale*,  convent  and  «cad- 

rmy.  104 
Vocational   ipecialitation,  Jef- 

fenon  and.  91 ;  m«  alto  Tech- 

aical  education 


Walker,  F.  A.,  quoted.  f07 

WaahinKton.  B.  T.  tl9 

Waahington.  and  national  edu- 
cation. 94  el  trq.,  iSi;  na- 
tional univeraity.  9a-9fl.  97- 
98.  I  Of:  on  need  of  military 
academy,  99;  and  agri- 
cultural  education.  Slff.  itiS 

Waahington  and  Lee  Univer- 
sity. 98 

WaahinRton.  Univeraity  of. 
coeducation,  S49 

Wayland,  President  of  Brown 
University.  175.  f  14-lA 

Webster,  Daniel,  and  Horace 
Mann,  ISA:  quoted,  IM 

Webster,  Noah,  text-books,  13, 
117-19 

Wellesley  College,  fUO 

Wells.  D.  A.,  til 

Wells.  II  inry.MO 

Wells  College.  HO 

Wesleyan  Female  College  of 
Macon  (Ga.).  239 

West,  establishment  of  col- 
leges. 150:  collegiate  compe- 
tition, 157 

West  India  Company.  »fe 
Dutch    West    India    Com- 

P*ny 

West  Jersey,  education  in.  40: 
tee  al»o  New  Jersey 

West  Point.  Military  Acad- 
emy at,  99-100 

Western  Literary  Institute. 
160 

Western  Reserve  University. 
160 

White,  Father  Andrew,  189 


White,  A.  D..  Preaideal  vi  Cor- 
nell. lOff.  175,  178.  ISO 

Wiilsrd.  Mrs.  Emma  Hart.  A 
Plan  Jar  lmproriH§  F»malt 
KdueatioH.  999 

William  and  Mary.  College  of. 
founding  of.  M  et  leq.;  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  founded  at.  85, 
878;  repreaented  in  Virginia 
Houae  of  Burgeasea.  85; 
closed  for  seven  years.  86; 
Epiacopalian.  98;  Waahing- 
ton and,  98 

William  Penn  Charter  School, 
!I5 

Williama.  Roger,  5t 

Williamaburg.  capital  removed 
from.  85;  in  Revolutionary 
and  Civil  Wars.  86 

Wilson.  Father.  196-97 

Wilson,  Woodrow,  quoted.  S7S 

Wirt,  W.  A.,  «70 

Wisconsin,  federal  land  grant, 
164 

Wiaconsin  State  Agricultural 
Society.  Lincoln's  address 
before.  Ut 

Wisconsin,  University  of.  Bar- 
nard as  Chancellor  of,  138; 
founded  (1848).  164;  Lath- 
rop  as  President  of,  SIS; 
graduate  work,  t75 

Women,  Clinton  favors  higher 
education  for.  148;  admis- 
sion to  State  Univemities, 
179-80;  Catholic  teaching 
communities,  196-97;  Catho- 
lic University  of  America 
conducts  summer  school  for. 
204;  higher  education  for, 
833  ft  teq.;  early  curriculum 
for,  837-38;  teachers  in  ele- 
mentary grades,  868-69;  col- 
lege attendance  (1893-1013), 
858;  lee  aUo  Coeducation, 
Girls 

Woodward.  Judge,  plans  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan,  171 

Woolsey,  T.  D.,  174 


Jl' 


^gm^ 


mi^t^mtkM^^m^ 


m 


INDEX 


309 


Y»l*.  Faihu.  55 

Vale  I  niveriily.  ro«mopolitnn. 

«;foundinnof  (1701).  33-44; 

ilegrpc*.  «73,  «74;  graduate 

work.  It7d 


YounR.  Arthur,  rHotrn  pro- 
feiM>r  of  agriculture  by 
JrfferiH)n.  ilO 

YpniUnti  (Mich.),  normal 
ichool.  170 


